Silver Wings
by Noir Angel
Summary: Ed and Al are on a quest to find the Philosopher's Stone when they meet a strange girl named Hikaru who can see the 'wings' of any human. Together, Ed and Hikaru learn the mysteries of their forgotten past and the sick and twisted secrets of the military.
1. Chapter 1: Dreams

Chapter 1: Dreams 

Rain poured and poured as the wind softly blew its drops across a small window of an old white mansion. Inside the room of the most top-left balcony was a strange dark room. The raindrops softly hit the window class of the dark room. In the room was a mysterious, young girl with black hair. She was standing close to a sink with the water running. She washed her face a couple times and then looked into the mirror above the sink. She then began to stare at her reflection.

"What seems to be wrong Hikaru?" the reflection asked.

"Nothing big this time… Just about the strange dreams I've been having these past 23 days." Hikaru replied with a sad look on her face.

"What were they about?"

"They were about a certain boy. Every dream had him in it. And every time I awake from those dreams my head and my chest hurts…"

"What did he look like?"

"It's kinda hard to remember 'cause every time I usually wake up before I can really get a good look at his face. But I'm very certain that he has gold blonde hair. I can't confirm the length though. In the dreams he had both long and short hair, but when he has long hair it's usually braided. The sad thing is that I feel that he's somehow very familiar to me, but I don't even know who he is."

The reflection just stared at Hikaru, looking at her crimson eyes. She then said to Hikaru, "I'm sure you'll find out who he is soon. After all, you have those eyes."

"My eyes?" Hikaru asked confused.

"You'll learn soon enough, Hikaru…" The reflection said as she gave a small evil smile to Hikaru. "Now let me take over."

Suddenly the reflection in the mirror disappeared for a short moment and was back, but it wasn't the same one! In the mirror was Hikaru!

"What are you going to do?" Hikaru asked still confused.

"What do you think?" The reflection in Hikaru's body replied. "I'm going to find out who that boy is for you, but I'm sure with your eyes it wouldn't really matter for you would it?"

"Yeah… I guess you're right." Hikaru replied.

Rain poured and poured as lightning clashed in the night sky at East City. There was light coming from a window on the second floor of East City Military Headquarters. Inside was a young man, at about the age of 29, who was still working on filing papers when he was supposed to return home hours ago. He must be really serious about his work since he's staying at the headquarters at a really late hour. As he finally finished filing all the work on his papers the door to his office quickly opened. The man looked up to see and angry boy with gold blonde hair about 15 years old walked inside the office with a giant suit of armor about 7 feet tall.

"Struck out on the Philosopher's stone again, eh Fullmetal?" The man said laughing a bit at the boy.

"Ugh…" The boy groaned as he grabbed a seat in front of the desk. "Just Shut Up Colonel! I'm sick of hearing that line!"

"Calm down, Ed." The armor said trying to calm his brother down from his anger.

"What do you want from me anyway, Colonel?" The boy asked annoyed.

"Be patient." The colonel calmly replied. "Hughes will be here soon with the information."

The colonel then called for Hughes who just happened to beyond the door. The door swiftly opened and there was a man with glasses and beard.

"Yo Roy!" He shouted happily. "Didn't know you stayed out this late too?" Hughes then noticed the boy and his brother. "Oh! Didn't see you guys there! What do guys need?"

"We're waiting for the info, Major." The boy said still annoyed.

"It's Lieutenant Colonel!" He quickly shouted back and then got back to his usual calm voice, "Anyway. Edward, Alphonse, have you two ever heard of a man named Scar?"

"No, we haven't," the suit of armor, Alphonse, replied.

"Why do you ask anyway?" Edward said curiously.

"He murdered the General, the Iron Blood Alchemist." Roy answered.

"Wha-!" Both brothers said shockingly as they almost jumped out of their seats.

"That's not all." Hughes added. "His murders are only targeted to State Alchemists. So I suggest you should be careful, Ed, since he was recently spotted in Central. But that isn't the real mission."

"Ugh…" Ed groaned once more. "What is it this time?"

"There was a mysterious robbery in Central." Hughes continued. "No money was taken just some materials used to make weapons and a few books from the Central Library."

"What books were they?" Al asked.  
"They were books on the Philosopher's Stone." Hughes finished.

_The Philosopher's Stone! _Ed said shockinglyin his mind. "C'mon Al. We're going to Central."

Ed dragged his brother out of the East City Headquarters and quickly ran for the train station. The two Eric brothers ran as hard as they could through the hard rain that pelted strongly on their heads. When they finally arrived at the train station Ed bought two train tickets to Central. The two quickly boarded the train before it left them behind. Al was put in the cargo trunk while Ed sat alone on the passenger cart. The train quickly arrived at Central and the two brothers swiftly departed it. They ran and kept on running until they heard a scream.

"What the hell was that!" Ed shouted as he and Al quickly ran to the area where the scream came from. As they were running trough the puddle-filled street they came across an alleyway and inside was Scar and the dead victim.

"You're Scar aren't you?" Ed asked as he approached the tall man with white hair and a scar on his face.

"Yes." Scar replied as he saw the pocket watch in Ed's right pocket. "You must be the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric." He then fixed his fearful red eyes at Ed.

Ed clapped his hands together and placed his left hand on his auto-mail arm creating a blade through alchemy. He then swung his blade at Scar, but Scar quickly stepped aside and turned around to grab Ed's auto-mail arm. He then sent a shock wave surging through his body that sent him flying into the ground.

"That son of bitch…" Ed cursed as he tried to get up from the ground.

"Brother!" Al shouted in concern as he quickly ran into the fight.

"Al. Don't!" Ed shouted warning Al, but he didn't stop. Scar grabbed the side of Al's armor, which created a red light that came out of Scar's arm. The next second the side of the armor that Scar held on to disappeared and Al fell to the ground.

"AL!" Ed shouted as he watched his quickly fall from one attack. He quickly got up, but just as he rose up from the ground Scar kicked him in the stomach, which caused Ed to fall back on the damp floor.

"Damn…" Ed murmured as he wiped the blood dripping from his mouth. He then got back up and ran at Scar once more. That's when he suddenly realized that Scar just got a hold of his auto-mail arm. In a matter of seconds Ed's auto-mail blasted into many little, broken pieces and he fell to the ground. No one was around to help him and Al. It was if they were finished for good.

Loud thunder clashed in the night sky as Hikaru suddenly woke up from her sleep holding painfully on to her chest, where her heart is. She was panting over and over again as she wiped the sweat off hersweaty face. She then walked over to the sink and washed her face a couple times.

"What is it this time Hikaru?" her reflection asked.

"He's…" Hikaru said still panting as she clenched her hand on her chest trying to ease the pain. "…in trouble…"

"Who's in trouble?" the reflection quickly asked, but before she can receive an answer from Hikaru already ran for her coat rack. "Where the hell are you going Hikaru?"

Hikaru didn't respond and grabbed he black cape from the coat rack. She quickly put her cape on and jumped off the balcony into the hard, pelting rain.

"That stupid girl…" the mirror murmured and then quietly disappeared as Hikaru did.

Hikaru landed on the ground and shoved the giant rock to the side. Beneath the rock was an underground passage that she quickly went down. Inside the passage was a large transmutation circle that was used to transport anyone touching it to other sideatthe other circle, which corresponds to the one being activated. Hikaru quickly ran into the circle and warped over to a rooftop of a building in Central. Corresponding to her dream, she ran over to the alleyway as fast as she could. On the way she quickly put on some blacked gloves with a weird seal printed on them, and then transmuted a long metal pole into a long Japanese sword.

Scar was about to finally finish Edward off for good until his invincible attack was somehow blocked!

"What the hell!" Scar shouted in confusion. "That's impossible… Nobody can stop my arm!"

Ed was shocked to see a girl about the same age as him with long black hair that flowed strongly with the wind. It was Hikaru! She stood in front of him and Scar directly blocking the attack that Scar tried to make on Ed.

"Who are you!" Ed shouted at Hikaru. She was about the answer, but Scar shouted,

"I don't care who the hell you are! If you get in my way I'll kill you, too!"

Scar ran towards the Hikaru, thrusting his right arm at her, but just before it hit her there was a sudden flash and Scar was bleeding on the ground with blood rushing out of his stomach and right arm. Valuing his life Scar ran out of the alleyway and disappeared. Hikaru turned around to look at Ed, but when she caught a glimpse of him she suddenly clutched her chest in pain again and fell to the ground.

"You okay?" Ed asked he slowly crawled closer to her. Hikaru began to cough out some blood and looked into Ed's gold eyes withmysterious crimson ones.

"I…" She quietly spoke as she coughed out more blood. "…can see… your wings…"

"My wings?" Ed questioned. "What the hell are you talking about? Snap out of it!"

"Your wings… are… whitish…silver…! The ones… I were… looking… for…" Hikaru then passed out from the lack of blood as Ed held her on his chest with his remaining left arm.

"Brother! The military's here!" Al shouted as his brother slowly walked over to him on his knees with Hikaru on his back. Ed watched as the officers exited the cars and smiled. Ed was relieved that he, his brother, and the girl who save him, Hikaru, were all finally safe.


	2. Chapter 2: Eyes

Lightning struck the dark, raining sky as the raindrops showered strongly on the three figures that were sitting down in an alleyway. The water from the rain flowed like a river down the streets of Central and along that flowing river was a small trail of blood. The blood was being carried by the fluent water and left red trails on the damp streets. The blood was flowing from Edward and Hikaru as they rested their weary bodies from their recent battle with Scar. Ed was mildly bleeding from his battle wounds, but for Hikaru it was a different story. She was coughing out blood frequently and still clenched strongly to her ailing chest. 

Finally after a few minutes of waiting in the rain, the military soldiers found about Ed and Al's battle with Scar and rushed in to help. Two black military cars swerved on the slippery streets and were both skidding on the water as they came to stop in front of the alleyway. Lieutenant Hawkeye stepped out of the first car along with Second Lieutenant Havoc, and they were both shocked to see the Elric brothers beaten and wounded, as well as a wounded girl lying on Ed in serious pain. The two lieutenants quickly rushed through the strong waterfall-like rain and began ramming Ed and Al with series of questions.

"Edward, What happened!" Hawkeye asked, as she was shocked to see him sitting on the ground in a puddle of blood carrying a wounded girl with blood trickling down from the side of her mouth.

"Didn't the colonel tell you guys to stay clear of Scar and search for that mysterious thief instead?" Havoc also asked.

Save that all for later!" Ed shouted in concern of Hikaru, as she began to cough up a little more blood. "Just get her to the hospital quick!"

"Understood." Hawkeye affirmed and quickly had Havoc call in other military soldiers.

In just a few minutes other soldiers arrived and rushed in to help. Havoc and four other soldiers lifted Al and his broken pieces and placed them in one of the military cars. Hawkeye helped Ed up as he still carried Hikaru, who passed out from the tremendous amount of blood loss. Ed got in the back seat of Hawkeye's car and still held Hikaru in his arms as if he actually cared for her with much compassion. Hawkeye got in the driver's seat and started up the engine. She then led the military soldiers quickly through the raining streets and to the nearest hospital in Central.

About a few hours later Hikaru woke up in her hospital bed in confusion. She wondered who had brought her here and who would actually care for her that much to do that. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms high in the air. Then a nurse came in.

"Oh, you're awake!" She said exited to see Hikaru feeling better. "You sure heal fast! Do you need anything, miss?"

"Nothing really." Hikaru politely answered. "But may I use the restroom?"

"Sure. Go right ahead! Be sure to wash that cute face of yours! It'll make you feel better and refreshed." The nurse informed.

"All right" Hikaru smiled. "Thank you!"

Hikaru walked into the dark restroom and closed the door, but never turned on the lights. The nurse began to wonder a bit, and then walked out the hospital room. As she walked down the halls she happened to pass by Edward.

"Thanks for taking care of her Ayumi." Ed thanked.

"No problem Edward." Ayumi said as she flicked her orange hair back behind her shoulders.

"Did you find out what her name was?" Ed asked curiously

"Her name? Sorry she didn't give me her name yet." Ayumi apologized. "Remember she's still resting, Edward."

"Oh yeah." Ed chuckled. "I forgot. Thanks again, Ayumi." Ed then ran off to his meeting with Colonel Mustang.

_ Tsubasa…?_ Ayumi wondered as she straightened her light pink nurse uniform and walked out.

Back in the restroom Hikaru was again staring at the mirror and suddenly her reflection automatically appeared speaking out to her.

"You sure heal fast, Hikaru." The reflection said. "Those weary injuries would leave a normal human resting in sleep for about a few days."

"I know." Hikaru replied.

"Your body is different from everyone and that boy you saved last night." The reflection explained.

"Different?" Hikaru asked. "How is my body different? I must be human 'cause I can perform Alchemy! If I'm not like them, then what am I?"

"You might not be able to see it right now," Her reflection continued, "but over some time maybe you'll finally see with your special crimson eyes what you really are. If you keep hanging around that boy you'll be able to find your answers quicker than you think. Then you'll see what the difference is between you and the humans."

"I understand…" Hikaru answered as she changed from her hospital clothes to her original black garments. She put on her black sleeveless shirt, her black shorts, and her long black cape. She then quickly left the bathroom and whispered a thank you to the boy who saved her life, Edward,before she jumped out the window. In a matter of seconds she was gone.

In the meeting room of the hospital Roy sat back at one of the couches and took a sip from his hot coffee as he waited for Ed and Al to take a seat. Ed wore his red jacket to cover his missing arm while Al had a black sheet over the hole in his armor. The two took a seat in the couch directly across from the Colonel. After Hawkeye confirmed that she securely locked the door and walked out, their conversation began.

"What happened back there with Scar?" Roy asked.

"He pretty much beat the hell out of us." Ed explained. "He ripped off my arm and tore a hole in Al's armor. But we were all fine after this girl came and saved us. Right Al?"

"Yep!" Al replied. "But the sad thing is that she never gave us her name."

"Can you tell me what she looked like?" Roy asked curiously.

"She's a bit smaller than my brother, but about the same age as him," Al began.

"She wore a black sleeveless shirt, black shorts, and a large black cape. She has long black hair about my length, but wears it in a high ponytail. She also has crimson eyes. She can perform Alchemy and surprisingly at a high level, too." Ed finished.

"Ok." Mustang said, as he was lost in his deep thoughts. "Thank you, Fullmetal and Alphonse. You two may leave now."

The two brothers got off their couch and walked towards the exit, ready for their next stop at Resembool to get Ed's arm fixed. Ed began to think a bit about Hikaru and his meeting with the colonel. He then turned around and looked at Roy with a serious look on his face.

"What did you need that information for anyway?" he asked in suspicion before he opened the door.

"It was just to confirm something…" Roy answered. "It's nothing much now…"

Ed and Al walked out the door, and right after the door was completely closed and secure, the colonel walked over to the huge window of the room, beginning to stare out it in deep thought.

_ I thought it would be you, but it looks like was wrong_, Roy thought. _You didn't have crimson eyes, but that was long time ago. I wonder what your eyes are like now, Naoki…_


	3. Chapter 3: Rebirth

I forgot to write the diclaimer, so I'll just do it in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. Hiromu Arakawa (author and artist of FMA)does. The chracters I do own are Hikaru, Ayumi, and any other characters that aren't from the original FMA series.

**Chapter 3: Rebirth**

Ed began to wonder about the meeting he had with Roy and why he had asked him about Hikaru, as he walked down the main hallway of the hospital with Al. But all that hard thinking made his head hurt and he had to scratch his head with rage.

You feeling ok, brother?" Al asked in concern.

"Yeah." Ed replied as he returned to his calm self. "But I was just wondering about the girl who saved us from Scar. She never gave us her name or at least gave me the chance to say 'thank you' to her."

"So my brother has a cute little crush on his cute, little savior?" Al laughed and teased.

Ed blushed a light shade of red on his face. He ran up and attacked his brother with a barrage of punches and kicks. Al continued to laugh, feeling that he hit the jackpot.

"Boys!" a nurse shouted from one of the rooms. "This is a hospital! Keep the fighting outside!"

"This is your fault…" Ed mumbled in anger over to Al. Al continued to chuckle a bit at his brother's short-tempered personality.

The two left the hospital and stared into the clear sky. Al heard something rustling in the bushes and rushed over to see what it was, while Ed lost himself in his deep thoughts.

_I wonder why that girl saved us._ he thought. _But I do kind of feel as if we actually met somewhere before that whole Scar event. She's so strange. She doesn't talk much and when she does it's usually something strange or weird. Man, this is so complicated! I can't get my mind off her! It's as if she's haunting me. But the thing that bugs me the most is what she said the last time she whispered to me. Something about 'my wings' and…_

Suddenly Ed was knocked out of his deep thoughts as a small, orange kitten landed on his face.

"What the hell?" Ed shouted as the kitten jumped off his face. "Alphonse…"

Ed glared at his brother with glowing eyes of evil as Al quickly stopped laughing and soon began to whimper in fear. Ed slowly walked over building Al's suspense and stopped when he was directly in front of his brother, who was now on his knees begging for mercy. But being the good big brother he is, Ed just kicked off Al's armored head and then walked pass him.

"C'mon Al." Ed spoke as he turned around to see his brother putting his head back on. "We have to get to Resembool, so I can finally get my arm fixed, and then I'll fix you back together afterwards."

"All right!" Al replied as he got up and ran after Ed. "I'm coming brother!"

Around the same time Ed and Al left the hospital in Central, Hikaru carefully made it back home. She grabbed a sturdy gripped vine at the backside of her house and climbed up it to her highest balcony, which led to a secret lab room. She walked inside and took off her black cape. She hung it on the coat rack and walked over to a small round table. There she opened a thick red book that contained information about Alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone. She then reached over to the shelf and a grabbed a small, thick brown book on Clay bodies and Golems. Hikaru then looked into the mirror that was to the right of her.

"Do you have the body ready yet, Hikaru?" the reflection asked.

"The body should be getting close to finished." Hikaru replied. "The only thing missing should be the soul. Shall I extract it now?"

"What did the books I stole for you say?" the reflection said as she revealed the identity of the mysterious thief that the military is currently after.

"Well a Philosopher's Stone is not required." Hikaru answered as she reached into her pocket. "I just need my gloves."

"Those are the gloves that you had since you we were still infants. I can't imagine that you would still keep a hold of that and keep in a good condition after all these years," the reflection said a bit surprised. "Then again, those gloves are special. That's probably why you kept them in safety."

"Shall I extract it now?" Hikaru repeated her earlier question as she began to slide on her gloves.

"Since the body is ready do as you may," The reflection answered with confidence.

"All right then. I'll begin now." Hikaru said as she tightened the grip on her gloves. She reached her hand forward into the mirror as if the glass was liquid ooze. Inside the mirror Hikaru managed to grab something and carefully pulled it out. Out came a transparent figure that almost resembles Hikaru, but with more slanted eyes. It was the soul of Hikaru's reflection! Hikaru carefully carried the soul over to its new body that was lying in a human-shaped casket made of clay. She placed the soul into the clay body and closed the casket lid over the fake body. On the lid she carefully drew a small transmutation circle and clapped her hands to perform Alchemy. She then placed her hands on the circle and a blue light began to surround the clay casket.

In just a matter of seconds the casket lid began to slowly move and slide off on to the floor. Then a naked body rose from the casket and began to slowly look at the surroundings around her. Then she turned herself around to look at Hikaru directly with an emotionless look on her face. Her long, ebony hair is about the same length as Hikaru's, but a bit longer and straighter. She stood up and began to check her new body. She was exactly the same height as Hikaru, and almost exactly resembles her. The only difference is the slight straightness in her hair and her eyes. Unlike Hikaru, the body that the soul of the reflection occupies doesn't have crimson eyes. She has a more dark blue, close to black, colored eyes. The body motioned with her fingers for Hikaru to stand up. She grabbed Hikaru's hand and placed it on the cheek of the body she created for her to feel the success of the transmutation.

"Hikaru," the body spoke.

"Yes?" Hikaru responded without any emotional feel for the success.

"The transmutation was a success," the body answered. "I say you may actually be more skilled at alchemy than that child prodigy, Edward Elric." She let go of Hikaru's hand letting it drop back to her side and continued. "The ways you put this body together and made it feel like a living, breathing human is spectacularly amazing! My skin feels so tender like and my hair feels just like yours. This body looks as if it were actually the real me if I had lived through the years and grew along with you. You even captured the eyes perfectly! I feel alive again!"

"What do you mean by living and growing along side me?" Hikaru asked a bit confused.

"Don't worry Hikaru." The body said as she gently rubbed Hikaru's head. "The boy with the wings you desire most will answer everything for you."

"Ok…" Hikaru said still really confused. "Oh! What should I call you now? Since you now have a body like a human, you'll need a name."

"All right then," the body replied. "For now please refer to me as L."

At about the same moment Ed and Al's train arrived in the sunny fields of Resembool. There was a soft breeze that blew through the vast blue sky and the trees swayed along with the wind. As Ed breathed the air he felt a sort of relief in him as if coming to Resembool would solve most of his troubles. He let the wind blow through his golden blonde hair a bit before following his brother down the dirt road.

It took the two brothers about a few minutes to arrive at the Rockbell Automail Workshop and the soft breeze suddenly stopped blowing. Ed and Al walked up the stairs of the workshop and noticed a piece of paper attached to the locked door. It said,

** "WELCOME TO THE ROCKBELL AUTOMAIL WORKSHOP! But right now the shop is closed due to the fact that we are on vacation in the West. We will back soon in the later future. **

**THANK YOU!  
-Winry and Pinako Rockbell"**

"Great," Ed sighed as he read the notice, "Whose going to fix my automail now?" He then looked at Al and then the bag carrying all of Al's broken parts. "Without my right arm I can't perform Alchemy and I won't be able fix you back to normal, Al."

"It's ok, brother," Al reassured him, "Remember I can still walk around even with a huge chunk of my upper body missing. So I'll be fine."

"I hope your right Al." Ed said. "But no matter what I still need my arm fixed. I just need to know a place that can fix automail as good as this workshop."

"Oh! Edward Elric!" A very loud manly voice was shouting from out of nowhere. "I know the perfect place where you can get your arm fixed!"

Ed and Al turned around and were almost scared to death by seeing Major Armstrong running rapidly towards them. Ed shouted like crazy when Armstrong began to hug him tightly and Al hid in the bushes too scared to come back out.

"Major!" Al shouted from the bushes, "If you continue to hug brother like this you'll end up breaking more of his body parts!"

Armstrong realized what he was doing and quickly let go of Ed who panting and begging for air.

_Damn._ Ed thought. _He didn't have to choke me like that. He just had to show up at a moment like this. Was he stalking us? But wait… didn't he say that he knows a place that can fix my arm as good as the Rockbells?_

Armstrong noticed Ed was in real deep thought and partially explained what he came here for, "You're looking for another mechanic, right Edward?"

"Yeah." Ed answered. "It seems that my mechanic is on a vacation in the West. I need someone who's just as good, or even better than her. The sad thing is that I don't know who…"

"Fortunately for you," Armstrong continued, "I know a place with a mechanic who is just about as good as your mechanic."

"You do Major?" Al shouted in excitement as he jumped out the bushes.

"Of course I do!" The Major nodded proudly as he began to flex his muscles. "The mechanic lives in a dark forest close to here known as Elendia. There's only one house in that giant abandoned forest and the house is about the size of a luxurious mansion, so it should be easy to find."

"Wait a minute!" Ed exclaimed. "I heard of Elendia before!"

"You did brother?" Al asked.

Ed nodded and explained. "I can't believe you don't remember Al. Mom always told us not to run off there. She said it was large, very dangerous, and easy to get lost in. Yet I'm surprised that someone actually lives there now. But Mom said that Elendia was once part of Resembool, until the nature and plant life took over the area. Now the two places are separate and the people of Resembool renamed the area, which is now a forest, Elendia."

Al and Armstrong were surprised to see that Ed actually had some knowledge about the mysterious forest of Elendia. As the three looked onward at the lush growing forest, the once sunny sky became dark and in a matter of minutes rain began to start pelting on them. Ed turned his head from the view of Elendia to his brother and Major Armstrong. He had a determined look on his face as if he were ready to wander into danger no matter what the cost is.

"Ready to go off to Elendia, the lush forbidden forest of the hazardous unknown?" Ed asked Al and Armstrong.

Al and Armstrong turned towards each other and then they both answered, "Why not, Edward!"

An urge of excitement ran through Ed's body as he jumped off the porch of the Rockbell's workshop and into the hard, pouring rain. He threw his left fist in the air to show strong determination and shouted,

"All right! Onward to Elendia!"


	4. Chapter 4: Mechanic

Chapter 4: Mechanic

Rain pounded hardly on the streets of an unfamiliar city in a country far east. The country was known as Xing. The silver brick-covered streets were like a shallow, flowing river, as the rain showered over the bustling city of busy lives. Even in the hard rain people still attended work and used bikes as transportation. Water flowed down drainpipes like waterfalls, and the torrential rain continued pouring. People didn't care even if they heard a thunderstorm coming. All they would do is just take their stores inside or put up super-thick blockers to shield from the heavy rain. But mainly their lives would continue even through terrible weather.

A young woman in a dark purple women's business suit was walking through the river-like streets of Xing. She wore a really thick Chinese straw hat that shielded her from the strong torrential rain. It took her a few minutes to finally reach her destination, which was an enormous Chinese mansion, but not as big as the Emperor's castle. She knocked three times on the door and knocked the door again, except this time in more of a musical tone. The door slowly slid open and a voice came from the darkness of the mansion.

"Your codename password?" it whispered in a really quiet tone.

"Hanabi…" the woman answered as the door slid open further and she walked in.

"We've been expecting you, Hanabi." The voice said as it turned on the lights. Once the lights shined upon the dark room, it revealed that the mysterious voice came from a cute, young girl who looks no older than fourteen. She had long blonde hair and always wore a small white flower that was tied tightly to it, a little bit above her left ear. She wore a white flower-girl hat with a matching white dress to go along with it. She straightened her small, oval glasses, and flapped open a small fan with the Kanji character for **Chu** imprinted beautifully on it.

"It's about the project, right Chu?" The woman said as she took of her straw hat to reveal her bright orange hair. "And by the way, please refer to me as Ayumi and not my codename."

"All right!" Chu said as she smiled happily at Ayumi. "Then please call me Hana!"

The two women then walked from the front door and paced quickly up the stairs of the large mansion.

"How is your part-time job as a nurse, Ayumi?" Hana asked as she chuckled a bit on her way up the long staircase.

"Going good. I guess." Ayumi replied as she was also climbing the stairs. She then noticed something and mumbled to Hana, "Why the hell are you chuckling?"

Hana chuckled again and answered, "I just thought it was cute to see you as nurse and pretending to act nice and gentle. I can't imagine you acting like that at all, Ayumi. You're usually quiet, but most of the time angry at the slightest things. Plus, you hardly ever smile. Seeing you put up such a silly act to obtain simple information is pretty funny."

"I'll have you hanged if you're not too careful." Ayumi said with an angry tone in her voice while Hana continue to quietly laugh a bit more.

The two then stopped with their fun and jokes when they came upon the highest floor of the mansion. Their faces were placed with serious expressions as the walked down the long empty corridor. When they reached the end of the long hallway there was a large Chinese door. Ayumi slid the door open and inside was a Chinese styled meeting room. There were three other women in the room, and one of them got up from her chair. She had black hair that she always kept in two Chinese buns with two small braids hanging from them. The sides of her bangs are down to her collarbone, and she would occasionally have a tight gold and black headband on her forehead. She wore a tight black ninja outfit with a shiny red plate to shield her chest, red defensive elbow pads, thick, red shoulder pads, sturdy, red kneepads, black and red ninja boots, and a crest on the collar of her outfit that reads **Kanjin.**

"Obtained anything useful, Ayumi?" the ninja woman asked.

"Maybe something, Kanjin." Ayumi answered as the ninja woman rang a small bell as a sign of an important meeting.

"Thank you Ayumi." She thanked. "But please call me by my real my name, Namine."

All five members then took a seat around the meeting table as Namine stood with a big announcement, "Everyone, it seems that Ayumi Hanayuki, codenamed as Hanabi, obtained valuable information on Project Tsubasa."

Ayumi cleared her throat and explained, "While I was working at my part-time job in Central, Amestris, I seemed to come across some valuable information that I believe is an important part of Project Tsubasa. I was taking care of a female patient. She had black hair that's always kept in a high ponytail and awkward looking crimson eyes. She then asked to use the restrooms and I let her. The restroom was an incredibly dark room and nothing can be visible unless lights were turned on. She walked in the restrooms and I never saw the lights turn on. That gave me a feeling that she might be important in Project Tsubasa."

"I agree with you, Ayumi." Hana added on. "From an old worn-out military soldier's diary I read that Tsubasa's vision is more enhanced than that of the average human. But since the diary was old and the majority of it was burnt, I couldn't obtain more info from it. I feel that someone was trying to hide the information about the creation of Tsubasa by burning the information."

"They probably must've killed the military soldier, as well, for punishment." Said a girl who went by the name Midori, and the codename Kokoroe. She had long greenish-black hair that was tied in a loose ponytail. Just like Hana, Midori wears glasses, but her lenses were large and thick, making her eyesight bad without them. She wore a long forest green princess kimono with red-orange and gold flowers imprinted on it, a jade colored sash with dark green fern leaves marked in a clear random pattern, and a long silky piece of string tied tightly around the waist in the center of the sash. She carried a green bamboo umbrella with the Kanji characters for **Kokoroe **imprinted in large text on it. Midori then continued, "I think the military may be involved in this somehow or at least an organization that doesn't want a single member of the military to find out about the project."

"Can you think about this matter more clearly though?" Protested a 15 year-old girl whose name is Luna. She had violet-blue hair, which happens to strangely be her natural hair-color. The sides of her bangs are longer than her short hair. She had lavender eyes that are more of a round shape than slanted. She wore a regular white t-shirt with a Sakura blossom on the front, plain black business pants, and dark brown boots. She wears a necklace with a crescent moon and the moon had the Kanji characters for **Kokoroyasa(shii)** imprinted in the center of it. She went on, "You can't just go and assume any random person that you believe is strange. Then come back and report that person saying that they're part of Project Tsubasa."

"We're not picking random people, Luna." Namine admonished her. "Do you know what almost happened to Xing because of Tsubasa?"

"Yes, I know…" Luna said as sighed with sadness in her heart. "But I believe that we should be more reasonable about the people who we believe that could possibly have a connection with Tsubasa. Take that girl that Ayumi mentioned earlier for example. All she asked was for the use of the restroom. She never turned on the lights, but can't you just assume that she just went in there to wash her face or hands. You guys go and blame her just 'cause she has crimson eyes. You never blame me for anything, and I believe that I'm more strange and different than her. Just look at me! I have violet-blue hair from birth! I don't see you guys calling me strange or ever tried to blame everything against me because I'm different!"

"That's a strong point that should be considered," Midori said as she began to think a bit more. "Thank you for bringing that up, Luna."

Luna smiled happily to see that her idea was taken into concern. Namine then got up from the table just when Luna sat back down from her seat. She cleared her throat and announced,

"All right, guys! I want you to all further investigate Project Tsubasa, but remember to take Luna's idea into consideration! Get in your original groups and even without Shia here we'll still be able to manage!"

Hana rushed over to join Ayumi who was now standing in the corner of the room looking through what seems to be an Alchemy book. Hana peered over Ayumi's shoulder in full interest. Ayumi was startled to see Hana gazing at the Alchemy book from behind.

"I didn't know you were Alchemist, Ayumi." Hana said chuckling a bit as she wiped the oval lenses of he glasses with her lacy handkerchief.

"I-It's my method of battling." Ayumi stuttered and straightened the red ribbon tied underneath her white collar. She rubbed her hands over the golden Kanji characters that stated her codename, Hanabi, until she was able to calm down a bit. Hana continued to giggle at her partner's reaction.

"I guess it'll only be the two us," said Hana with some sadness in the tone of her voice.

"I wonder what happened to Shia…" Ayumi said in deep thought.

Just as Hana and Ayumi were having their private conversation, Luna rushed over to Midori and Namine. Midori was checking to see if her bamboo umbrella's in perfect condition, while Namine was sharpening her kunai.

"Ready to move out now, Luna?" Namine asked looking at her. Luna was gazing down at her crescent moon necklace and just stared in deep thought at her codename. The crystal Kanji characters glowed beautifully in her lavender eyes. Midori closed her umbrella and tied a golden string around it to hold it in place.

"C'mon Luna." Midori sternly reminded her. "We'll move out once you're ready."

Luna looked up and quickly replied, "A-all right."

Namine gave her big grin that showed her sharp canine teeth and then shouted, "All right! We're all ready to depart! So let's head off onward to Amestris!"

Lightning struck the sky strongly as the thunder roared loudly in the far-off distance. Rain almost fell like a waterfall and it doesn't look like it's going to let up soon. But in Elendia it's a whole different story.

Ed, Al, and Armstrong were all walking underneath the large canopy of the forest. Since the leaves were so thick, the rain didn't pour much on them. They crossed through the forest without having to worry much about the rain. Armstrong led the way as he was carrying the small wagon filled with Al's broken armor pieces. Al was following Armstrong at a quick pace to keep up with the Major, while Ed was falling behind, tired and worn out from all the walking.

"Ugh! I can't take this anymore!" Ed screamed as he collapsed on to the damp forest floor. He was exhausted from the excessive walking and the trouble of having to keep up with Armstrong's fast striding pace. He began to start having doubts and asked, "Major, are you sure we're not lost? Or maybe this special mechanic of yours is just a figment of your imagination?"

"Edward, I can assure you that the mechanic I speak of is real." Armstrong reassured him as Al ran over to help.

"Do you want me to carry you there, brother?" Al asked in concern.

"It's ok, Al." Ed said as he got up from the ground. His body was still flimsy and wobbly, but he managed to stand. He straightened himself as he continued, "Half of your body is missing and I'm only missing my right arm. I shouldn't be overusing you in that way, Al."

Al was delighted to hear his brother's respect for him, and despite the fact that Ed turned down his offer Al still picked him up. He lifted his Ed up with his remaining left hand and carried him on his shoulder.

"Al, you didn't have to carry me." Ed resisted.

"You're tired brother." Al insisted. "I'll carry you there the rest of the way. Besides you can actually get some rest now."

"Oh fine." Ed gave in. "I'll just take a nap right here."

Al laughed as his older brother fell asleep so peacefully on his shoulder. Even when Al was running to catch up with Armstrong, Ed didn't wake up. He was so exhausted after everything that happened since his battle with Scar that he slept so peacefully as if nothing can possibly disturb him.

But something did. After a half an hour of walking forever in this huge forest, Al dropped Ed on the lush, green grass and he fell right on his bottom.

"Ow!" Ed shouted as he woke from his wonderful sleep to find himself lying on the ground. "Al, what the hell was that for?"

"We're here brother!" Al shouted with excitement as Armstrong knocked politely on the humongous, red front door. Ed stared in awe at the gigantic white mansion that was about 5 stories tall and with four balconies on each floor. The house was covered with moss, vines, and the back of it was connected directly to a giant tree. Ed was more shocked to see the giant tree. It was massive and was the largest tree he had ever seen in his life. He was surprised that a certain mechanic actually lives in a deep, lush forest full of dangers and plant life rather than living in the city.

_I wonder what the mechanic looks like._ Ed began to wonder in deep thought._ Probably a giant with a long brown beard and muscles just as massive as the Major's. He probably has a really aggressive attitude since he's living so far from society and if you tick him off he'll rip your spine right out of your back!_ Ed was scared by his own thoughts as he snapped back into reality when the giant red door finally slid open.

The door creaked as it slowly opened for the three travelers. Light entered the darkness of the main room of the mansion as Armstrong walked proudly in without fear. Ed and Al followed closely behind the Major, somewhat cowering in fear. The large doors suddenly closed in on them with a loud thunderous slam. Ed and Al were both startled by the loud noise.

"Brother, what if this is a haunted house?" Al asked in fear.

"Al, we're Alchemists." Ed answered. "We have to be more rational about things. There are no such things as ghosts and haunted mansions. So forget about what you just asked and…"

Suddenly there was another loud thunderous slam! Both Ed and Al jumped in fear again. They ran screaming and hid closely behind Armstrong.

"O-Ok…" Ed stuttered. "Now I'm really scared…!"

"Have no fear, Elric brothers!" Armstrong shouted with sparkling balls of light surrounding his proud face. "I shall protect you from the evil that lurks in the darkness!" Armstrong put down the small wagon and began to punch the air of the dark room. He tried to rapidly punch into the darkness hoping to actually hit something, but all he hit was the air. Even though he's been continuously hitting nothing, Armstrong still carries on his punches.

Suddenly a small candle was lit in the darkness. Armstrong noticed the small flame and quickly picked up a random object. That random object just so happens to be Ed. Armstrong hurled Ed across the room and towards the burning flame of light. Ed was screaming as he was flying fast through the air and then he slammed into something. The candle's flame ran out of light and suddenly all the candles in the chandeliers lit afire!

Now that the room was filled with clear light, everything became visible. It seems that the mysterious figure happens to be none other than Hikaru. Both Hikaru and Ed were lying on the floor, with Ed lying on top of her, passed out from Armstrong's freakishly strong throw. She pushed Ed off her with her face slightly red with blush. He woke up once he hit the floor afterwards.

"It's you!" Ed shouted with excitement to see Hikaru sitting on the marble-tiled ground next to him. "I want to thank you for saving me and my brother back when we fought Scar." He went up and clutched her hands. Hikaru was surprised to see him doing this and her face blushed a small tint of red. But once that happened she felt pain in her chest again.

She held on to her chest in pain again and fell right on Ed's lap. She was panting heavily as she said, "I-I'm sorry…I-I don't want to… be a burden to you…You can just leave me here… and go off and do your business…I-I'll even open…the doors for you…Just leave me here and do your…own business…Y-You're so nice to me…I-It makes me feel…"

Hikaru suddenly passed out and Ed tried all he can to wake her up again. He shook her body trying to make her snap back to reality. He tried all he can, but she never awoke. Al pulled his brother off her and sadly said,

"She could've died, brother…"

"She can't Al!" Ed protested. "I want to know more about her! Why did she save us from Scar? Why did she mention about me having the 'wings' she was searching for? Why does she feel pain in her chest like the way she did just a second ago? I want to learn, Al! Especially her name…"

Hikaru's eyes began to open a slight bit and then flickered a bit. In the meantime her eyes were fully open again. The pain from her chest lifted and she was quickly back up on her feet. Ed's golden eyes glowed with happiness as he, too, got back up on his feet.

"Please," Ed begged her. "Please, tell me your name. You saved our lives from Scar and…I really want to know whom I'm thanking."

Hikaru stared into his pleading gold eyes as he stared into her mysterious crimson ones. She gave him a small smile and replied, "My name is Hikaru."

Ed was delighted to hear her name ring in his ear and gave her a big smile. "I'm Edward Elric!" He introduced himself and held out his hand. Hikaru stared at his left hand for sometime. The she grabbed it and shook his hand. Ed gave her a large toothy, while Hikaru just gave him a small smile, but slightly bigger this time.

"Edward, aren't you supposed to be looking for the mechanic?" Armstrong reminded Ed.

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot!" Ed exclaimed. "Hikaru…"

"Yes?" She softly replied.

"Major Armstrong here claims that there's a mechanic that lives in this large, giant mansion, all the way in the forbidden forest of Elendia. Is that true?"

"Yes." She answered.

"Can you tell where this-so-called mechanic is?"

Hikaru began to think for a bit and held her pointer finger in the air. She began to move her finger in an upward direction, but then quickly pointed it down to herself.

"N-No way…" Ed and Al stuttered shockingly. "Y-You can't be…"

Hikaru nodded with a small smile and said, "I'm the Mechanic of Elendia!"


	5. Chapter 5: Questions

Chapter 5: Questions 

Ed and Al were both dumbstruck at what Hikaru said. Ed fainted and fell right on the white marble-tiled floor.

"Brother!" Al shouted in shock.

"Edward Elric!" Armstrong also shouted as he ran over to Ed. His body was lying flat on the ground with his face facing the high-up ceiling. His eyelids were shut and it seemed as if he passed out for a moment.

After a few hours since he fainted, Ed awoke to see that he was in large room pinned down to a small wooden chair with metal locks sealing him to it. He had his clothes stripped off him, except for his pale, light blue boxers. Ed wondered who had done that to him as he began to gaze around the room in amazement, until he came across the wall to the right of him. The wall to his right had a crazy amount of tools that looked as if they were used more for murders than for rebuilding things, especially the giant, sharp chainsaw. That scared Ed the most.

"Where the hell am I?" Ed shouted aloud. "This better not be a torture chamber! I didn't do anything! I'm innocent! This was all Armstrong's fault! He led us here! I swear I didn't do anything!" Ed began to kick his legs around frantically trying to break free, but it was no use.

"Um… Edward, can you calm down, please?" Hikaru said softly as she walked into the room and grabbed some thick brown gloves. She slotted her hands in them and made sure that they were tightly placed on. She then walked over to where Ed was sitting, looking like an upset captive being put to torture.

"Did you have to lock me up to a chair like this?" he asked. "I feel like I'm being tortured for information."

"Sorry…" Hikaru apologized sadly, "But this is the only way I could keep you still until I finished with your arm." She went over with a ruler tape and measured his arm length. She wrote down the number on a small blank piece of notebook paper and then moved down to his automail leg. "Can you stretch both of your legs forward, please?"

Ed did as he was told and lifted both of his legs into the air, straightening them. Hikaru then measured both of his legs, starting with the human one first. She saw that the automail leg was shorter than his human one. She wrote down the size number on the paper and told Ed to place his feet back on the ground.

"It seems that you grew, Ed," Hikaru said, cleaning off a large table to making room for her to fix the arm and leg.

"Yeah," Ed agreed and boasted. "I'm growin' really tall!"

"Actually," Hikaru added, "I think you're still pretty short."

That comment enraged Ed till he almost exploded! He moved wildly in the chair trying to break free and attack Hikaru.

"DON'T CALL ME SHORT, MIDGET, OR SHRIMP!" Ed shouted with flames of anger burning in his eyes.

"Edward," Hikaru quietly said as she held her head with her hand, "this is probably why I kept you locked up in the chair like that."

"So you just kept me locked up in a chair so I can't pound you for me calling short?" he shouted back at her.

"No." She answered. "The reason why you're locked up like this was your brother's idea. He told me that you acted wild at times and this was the only I can keep you still."

Ed turned his head away from her looking at the wall to his left. Hikaru only sighed and turned around to face him.

"You know you're the first customer I ever had, Edward…" Hikaru said softly with deep sadness in the tone of her voice. "I think this makes me feel… really happy…" She caught his attention when he turned his head around and faced her again. She walked over to a wooden chair that she placed next to Ed and sat on it. "You know what Ed?"

"What?" he asked hoping that she doesn't call him short again.

"I was only joking about calling you short, Ed. I'm sorry." She apologized. Ed was so shocked that he almost fainted again. This was the first time someone apologized for calling him short. She then continued with a small smile on her face, "Since you're taller than me, I think you should be the one calling me short."

Ed's jaw dropped in shock. First was her apology, and now she commented that he was tall. Ed sat in the small wooden chair, now motionless as well as speechless. There was silence for a moment in the small room, and not a single sound came out of both Ed and Hikaru's mouths. Hikaru calculated all the measurements on the paper and walked towards the small wooden stairs, which led to the workshop's exit. She noticed that the door was slightly opened and quickly closed it. She turned the lock on the doorknob and jumped off the stairs landing on the hard wooden floor.

There were faint sounds coming from outside the white, sturdy, wooden door of the workshop. It sounded like two voices whispering to each other. Those quiet voices belonged to Al and Armstrong. They were whispering to each other about what they heard in the workshop.

"Major, did you hear what she said?" Al whispered as he stood up from the floor.

"I believe so, Alphonse." Armstrong confirmed as he quietly stood up as well.

"That's the first time I heard anyone talk to my brother that way." Al said as he walked around the mansion with Armstrong. "He's probably even more shocked than me."

"Well," Armstrong said as he rubbed his chin in deep thought, "I believe this is only the beginning. You and your brother will have a long way to till you two will reach the end."

"What do you by that, Major?" Al asked in confusion.

Armstrong opened a door to bedroom where they were told to stay. After he turned the knob, he turned to face Al and answered, "As this journey continues, you two will find the answers. You both may not notice them, but in the end it will all become clear"

---------------------

After at least several hours of working, Hikaru finally finishes with Ed's automail arm. She runs over to Ed, who was sleeping on the chair. She placed the metal in the hole in his right shoulder and began to check to see if she was accurate on her measurements. She lifted his human arm and checked to see if the arms were aligned correctly. Everything seems to be precisely accurate with the automail arm, so Hikaru went back to the table to work on the leg.

While she was working on the metal leg, Ed seemed to have woken up and noticed the automail arm sitting on a different table. Ed was delighted to see that she was finished his arm and was amazed that she finished it pretty quickly.

"You're working on the leg already, Hikaru?" Ed asked in amazement.

"Yeah. Am I going to slow for you?" Hikaru asked.

"Nope." Ed replied. "We got loads of time. The military assigned me to look for a thief, who's been stealing stuff from the Central Library, and I'm supposed to be looking for the Philosopher's Stone so me and Al can return back to normal. But since you're working at a fast pace like this we'll be heading out by tomorrow morning."

Hikaru went back to work and as several minutes pass she seems to be done with the metal foot. Ed was surprised to see her working speed as he was thinking of something to talk to her about. That's when a question of curiosity popped inside his head.

"Hikaru," Ed spoke to catch Hikaru's attention.

"Yes?" Hikaru replied with her mind still focused on the automail leg.

"I was wondering about what you said to me when we were fighting Scar." Ed began. "You said that I had 'wings', the 'wings you were searching for'. What do you mean by that?"

That really caught Hikaru's attention as she turned around with a sad look on her face and answered, "That is something not even I know. I can just see them. For example I can see them right now. You have them, Edward…"

"I still don't understand, Hikaru." Edward said, now even more confused.

"This journey leads to many paths and you must decide which paths you should follow. Decide carefully because your decisions affect us all, Edward…"


	6. Chapter 6: Thief

Chapter 6: Thief 

Hikaru's last statement left Ed even more confused than before, but he's beginning to think more deeply. But no matter how hard he could think he still couldn't understand Hikaru very well. He thought and thought for hours and by the time he gave up, it was about midnight. He snapped back to reality and noticed that Hikaru was lifting his human leg up to measure the finished automail one. He blushed when he felt her soft fingers on his right thy.

Hikaru finished checking her measurements and went to the other table to grab the automail arm. She carefully fastened a lot of wire to Ed and then connected the metal arm and leg to his body. She walked over to a lever connected to all the wires and placed her hand over it.

"This is another reason why I had you tied down with all those locks." Hikaru explained as she pulled down the lever. An electrical wave went scourging through Ed's body and connected his brain nerves to the automail parts. Ed, in the end, was left exhausted. Hikaru walked over to him and pulled off all the wires. She then took a small silver key and unlocked the locks locking Ed to the wooden chair. Ed got up and began to test out how well the automail turned out. He punched and kicked the air to test out his new metal arm and leg.

He finished with the practice test and noticed that he never felt better than this. The arm and leg were both light and sturdy. They had a perfect fluency that seemed to match with Ed's body, and they felt like that they were perfectly made for any type of combat. He walked over to Hikaru and placed his new right arm on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Hikaru." Ed thanked kindly, but quickly changed the subject, "Can you please tell me where my clothes are. I don't want to run around in my underwear."

Hikaru chuckled a bit and went to a small trunk under one of the tables. She opened it and handed Ed back all of his clothes. He quickly put them on hoping to not let Hikaru see him.

"Mind if I look around the mansion?" he asked as he finished putting on his black shoes.

"Feel free to have a look." Hikaru answered as she began to clean up the workshop. Ed walked up the stairs and unlocked the door. Before he turned the doorknob, Ed turned around and quickly smiled at Hikaru and then was on his way out the door.

The mansion was a lot larger than what he had imagined. He began to walk around the main room and came upon the west hallway. The western hallway was even larger than the main room. No lights were turned on and the curtains were closed. There were empty suits of armor lined along the sides of the dark hallway. Ed crept passed them trying not make much noise. He then made a run for it and exited the western hallway. The exit led the west wing, which happens to be as dark and spooky as the hallway before. Ed wandered around and was almost startled to death by a monstrous looking door. The door was made of complete stone and had a really creepy design carved into it. It was picture of two bandage-wrapped skeletons, one holding on to the left door handle, and the other holding on to the right. The skeletons were facing Ed and looked as if they were welcoming him inside.

_Think about this rationally,_ Ed thought to himself trying to ease his fear. _There are no such things as ghosts or skeleton zombies. Alchemists think rationally about things and they shouldn't believe in ghosts._

Ed held on to the door handle and pulled open the door. Inside was a dark room that was even darker than the last. He walked over to the curtain and opened it to shine some light into the dark room. When the moonlight entered the room Ed noticed that he was in a small library. There was small round table in the center of the room. On the table was a small, brown worn-out book. Ed walked over to the book and was shocked to see that there were bloodstains on most of the pages in the book. He looked on the cover and noticed that the book was an old diary. He opened the diary in full curiosity and began to read the pages:

**ENTRY 1:  
They told me who I was, but I couldn't understand them…**

**ENTRY 2:  
They told me what my purpose was, but I still couldn't understand them…**

**ENTRY 3:  
They told me that I can't feel pain, but it hurts so much…**

**ENTRY 4:  
They didn't need me today, so I went back and drew a picture. I wonder if it helps…**

**ENTRY 5: I want them to stop all of this. It hurts so much, but it just won't stop…**

**ENTRY 6:  
Blood… Blood… All I can see now was blood…**

Ed turned the page and looked as if he almost had a heart attack! The next page was almost covered with bloodstains! On the blood-filled page was a picture of a man getting brutally murdered! He had his limbs and head ripped right off his body! There was nothing but a brutal death on that page.

Ed was even more frightened than before. He quickly turned to the next page and it was almost the same thing! The page was covered in blood like the previous one and had a different person getting brutally murdered. This person had his heart blown right out of his chest and had all of his limbs ripped off!

Ed kept flipping through the pages in the diary, but all he could find were bloodstained pages and brutally murdered humans. Ed was really frightened at this point. His body was beginning to shiver in fear. The next page of the diary had a human or multiple of them with an even more brutal death than the previous page.

Finally Ed came to the final page of the diary. It was a normal picture with absolutely no bloodstains on the page. It was a picture of two young boys and two young girls. They all looked like they were about five years old, but the picture was too old and blurry to tell any other details of the picture. There was some text on the bottom of the page, which read:

**ENTRY 7:  
The things I treasured forever are to be lost and hidden away from me, including my precious memories…**

Ed closed the book now with a sad expression on his face. He felt sorry for the person who wrote the bloody diary and at the same time, thought that the person was a bit insane. He sighed and relieved to escape from that diary of madness. He skimmed through the shelf looking for an empty place to slot the diary in. When he found a place, he slotted the diary in it. It fitted perfectly in the gap, and the house began to rumble a bit. Then a staircase fell down into the library room. The staircase wasn't dusty, meaning that it was recently used. That gave Ed a little suspicion about the place. He walked up the stairs and lifted the trap door when he reached the top.

The trap door led to a secret room in the mansion that couldn't be accessed through any other way other than the balcony or the staircase. The room was a strange laboratory with mirror on one side of the wall, caskets lying on the other side of the room, a chemical cabinet, and books on Alchemy, clay Golems, and the Philosopher's Stone! Ed ran up to the table where the books were and saw that all the books stated that they were the property of the Central Library!

_No way!_ Ed thought. _Those are the books that the thief stole! He's the one who robbed the Central Library! I'll just have to capture him and then the colonel will stop nagging at me about this. But why did he steal books instead of money and treasures?_

Suddenly a sharp kunai was thrown directly at the book Ed was holding. Ed was startled and quickly turned around to see that no one was behind him. He began to wonder where that kunai had come from. Ed turned around and noticed that there was a girl standing on the table. She jumped off and perfectly landed behind him. The girl had long black hair tied in a high ponytail and slightly slanted eyes. She looked almost like Hikaru, but her eyes were bluish-black, not crimson. She wore dark clothes like Hikaru, but instead of a sleeveless shirt and shorts, she wore a short black dress. She had an almost identical cape to Hikaru's, but had a more devilish kind of look. She was slightly taller than Hikaru, but slightly shorter than Ed.

Is that Hikaru? Ed thought. No, it can't be her. Hikaru has crimson eyes. This person only looks almost identical to her!

"Did you enjoy looking around at our books?" the girl said with an angry tone in her voice.

"What do you mean?" Ed asked in confusion. "Whom else are you referring to?"

The girl gave him creepy glare and then answered, "Whom do you think, you foolish shrimp?"

Ed was about to burst in anger. People may call him "shrimp", but never a "foolish shrimp". He clapped his hands together performing Alchemy and transformed his new automail arm into a long sharp blade. Ed was fascinated to see what his new arm can do. He can now transmute his arm to an even longer blade than before. He ran at a quick speed trying to thrust his arm at the dark, mysterious girl, but she just easily dodged his attack. She jumped high into the air and came down with strong aerial kick. Ed dodged her kick and ran at her with the same strategy. Of course, the girl didn't fall for the attack and dodged it again, but this time was different. After she dodged his blade thrust, Ed quickly took the opportunity to punch her directly in the stomach with his human fist. The punch looked as if it took an immense amount of damage, and it sent the girl soaring across the room. She flipped and broke her fall by landing gracefully on her feet. The girl took absolutely no damage from Ed's strong punch. She just straightened her dress and began to wonder a bit.

_Dammit!_ She thought. _This body isn't as human as I wanted it to be! But it's the best that she could do without actually playing 'God'._

Ed ran up to her again, but this time tried to use a strong high kick on her. She simply caught the kick and countered with her own kick to the stomach. The kick threw Ed into one of the small bookcases in the room. He hit the bookcase with immense force and the books fell right on his head. He climbed out of the pile of books and got back on his feet holding on to his stomach in pain. He let go of his stomach and ran at the girl again. He threw a long punch at her and began to rapidly kick her from there. She easily dodged his punch and kicks and countered with an elbow jab. Ed quickly caught her elbow and threw a strong counter punch into her gut. The punch made her slide back a bit, but she regained her footing quickly.

"Damn!" Ed mumbled to himself. "How come my attacks have no effect on her? She can't be a homunculus! Homunculi have the tattoo of Ouroboros on one of their body parts, and they can actually feel damage. What the hell is she anyway?"

The girl quickly ran and kneed Ed in his gut, knocking him down on the floor. He got up and swiftly slashed her in the stomach. Ed was expecting blood to fall out, but instead black ooze slowly poured out of her body. Ed was surprised to see this happen, and the girl was angry that he saw this. She grabbed a kunai from one of her back pockets and quickly ran towards Ed while he was still resting on the floor. She threw the kunai directly towards his heart aiming to kill. Ed was too tired to move and wouldn't be able to dodge the kunai. He was doomed!


	7. Chapter 7: Return

**Chapter 7: Return**

Ed was defenseless against the mysterious girl's kunai. The kunai came blazing at him at almost lightning speed. The blade was aimed for his heart and in his current condition, Ed wasn't sure the he would survive. He closed his eyes and remembered that this was almost like what his battle with Scar was like. He waited for a miracle, but had doubts in his mind. He knew that Hikaru was busy elsewhere and wouldn't know where he was since he's battling in a secret room. He wondered if his brother or Armstrong would at least save him, but he doubt that would actually happen, too. He just wished for a miracle like what he did in the battle against Scar, hoping someone would find this secret room and rescue him.

The kunai ripped through his black jacket and through his black undershirt. But before it was about to pierce into his skin, it was quickly knocked out of the way leaving only a tear in Ed's undershirt! Ed quickly turned to his right and saw Hikaru with her left hand on the ground breaking the slide and with the kunai between her teeth. She was gripping the kunai like a dog when she finally came to a stop and took the blade out of her mouth. She stood up straight and faced the mysterious girl, who gave her an angry look.

"I was trying to protect you from that foolish shrimp, Hikaru!" the girl shouted with an angry tone in her voice.

Hikaru didn't give her a response and instead helped Ed get back on his feet, who was infuriated at the girl for calling him a 'foolish shrimp again'. The girl was even angrier with Hikaru and quickly ran up to her trying to stab her with another kunai. Hikaru used the first kunai to block all of her attacks. She pushed a little more force in the final hit countering the girl's slashes. The girl flew back and landed gracefully on her feet.

"Please stop, L." Hikaru said in concern. "Notice your blood on the floor. If this keeps up your body won't be able to function anymore."

L noticed this and quickly ran towards the balcony of the room. She jumped off into the forest and was gone. Hikaru was tired from working continuously all day and the fighting added to it. She fell to the ground on the bottom and began to lie down on her back. Ed walked over to the table and picked up the stolen library books. He carried the books over to Hikaru and dropped them over by her side. She sat up straight and began to look at the books.

"Hikaru, do you know who stole these books from the Central Library?" asked Ed.

Hikaru just stared deeply into Ed's golden eyes with her strange crimson ones and gave him a really sad face. Her sad face then changed to a cute face that looks as if she was about to burst in tears. Ed wondered what was wrong and sat down beside her. She stroked her hand on the torn rips on his undershirt and felt the open skin of his chest. Ed blushed a few shades of red when he felt her finger stoke slowly on his chest. Then he noticed that there were tears falling from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Edward…" Hikaru softly apologized and let go of his chest. She looked at the books and more tears fell from her eyes. The small drops slid down her face and on to her hands.

Ed was wondering what happened and asked, "What did you apologize for?"

"L almost killed you." Hikaru answered.

"That's not a good enough reason for you to apologize, Hikaru!" Ed shouted back at her.

"It's my fault because I-I…" Hikaru began to stutter.

"You what?" Ed wondered impatiently waiting for her response.

"I'm the thief who stole the books from the Central Library!" Hikaru shouted at him with a lot more tears pouring out of her eyes. Ed was surprised to hear this. He got up and just stared at Hikaru with a really serious look on his face. Hikaru held on tightly to her knees and continued, "I needed those books for some research, so I let L steal them for me. You can go ahead and take those books back and turn me into the military if you like."

Hikaru then stood up and held out her two hands in front of Ed, waiting for him to at least place handcuffs on her wrists. Ed just looked at her and saw the sadness in her crimson eyes. Looking into her eyes gave him a sad expression as well. He knew that Hikaru wouldn't tell him what the research was, so he didn't really bother to ask her. He was sorry that he shouted at her earlier, but still grabbed spare handcuffs from one of the pockets on his red jacket. He locked the handcuffs around her wrists and noticed that she hung her head low in more sadness. Ed place his left hand underneath Hikaru's chin and lifted her head up making her eyes meet with his.

"I'm sorry." Ed said sadly, now being the one who's apologizing. "A State Alchemist is considered the 'dog of the military' and we have to obey every order a higher official tells us, even if it's against are own free will."

"It's ok." Hikaru replied trying to avoid eye contact with Ed. "It's your duty, so I can understand."

Ed pulled her head back trying to regain the averted eye contact and said, "How about I let you slide a bit on this one?"

"What do you mean?" Hikaru asked as she finally stopped crying.

Ed gave her a big smile and answered, "I'll say that the books weren't harmed at all, and then I'll have you try to enter as a State Alchemist. Even though you'll have to follow orders like a dog, it's better than being charged for a felony. The colonel has to let you off easy on this. He really likes girls, so just try to act all innocent around him and maybe he'll let you off. If not I'll back you up. It's thanks for fixing my arm and leg."

Hikaru was overjoyed and gave Ed a bigger smile than her regular small ones. She had a good feeling acing through her body and it was if she had never felt it before. Her heart strangely feels warm and contained a really good feeling. But underneath that good feeling was the aching pain of her chest. She placed her hands softly on her chest to suppress the pain, but it still remained. She let out a deep sigh trying to let the good feeling she had before leave her and it was soon gone, along with the pain. She looked up at Ed again and felt a bit sadder just by looking into his eyes. She began to think deeply without averting her gaze.

"Hikaru, know a way to get out of this room?" Ed asked snapping her back to reality.

"Uh… Yeah." Hikaru answered and turned around. She lifted her right leg in the air came down with an immensely powerful smash kick. The kick almost shook the entire room and was able to shake the secret stairs loose. The stairs landed to the ground on the floor beneath the secret room with a loud thump. The library room shook a little bit from the aftershock of the smash kick.

Ed's jaw dropped as he was amazed by Hikaru's strength. Hikaru walked down the stairs and Ed quickly followed behind her. Ed remembered that this was the room where he read that mysterious diary. He wanted to ask Hikaru about it, but decided to wait a bit longer before asking. They walked over to the large stone door leading to the west wing. Ed was about to open the door for them, but the door suddenly swung open knocking Ed back with an incredibly strong force. The person who suddenly knocked the stone door open was Major Armstrong! Behind him was Al who was actually helping him shove the door open.

"Oh Edward Elric!" Armstrong shouted proudly. "I'm glad to see you're safe!"

"We thought you were lost somewhere broth-" Al added, but then was stunned at what he saw. Armstrong was shocked to see it too.

After being knocked back from the stone door, Ed soared right into Hikaru and fell right on top of her. His head was on top of her chest making her blush. Hikaru suddenly felt the same chest pain again and tried her best to suppress it, but it was no use. Her face grew redder with blush as Ed slowly got off her chest. He slowly slid his face off her chest, accidentally rubbing his left cheek against her breasts. Ed noticed this too and blushed also. He was shocked to see himself doing this and quickly got off her. Hikaru placed her hands over her chest again trying to ease her pain. The blush disappeared from her face and she let go of her aching chest. Hikaru looked over at Ed who was still blushing, but was really angry this time.

"I can't believe my own brother would do such a thing!" Al cried out. "I'm too young to witness this mature scene!"

"I am ashamed of you, Edward Elric!" Armstrong shouted with smoke fumes of anger coming out of his nose.

"Shut up!" Ed shouted angrily, still blushing. "You and Al are the ones who crashed open that damn door and knocked me into her!"

Hikaru watched Ed jump into the air and wildly punched and kicked Armstrong and Al. Seeing how mad Ed was, made her laugh. She looked longingly at the happy trio and wished that she were with them, always looking happy and cheerful. But something was holding her back. There was feeling inside of her that was preventing her from the happiness she longed for. She just looked at them and gave them a small smile, but on the inside her heart was hurting.

Ed was exhausted from trying to punish Armstrong and Al, while Armstrong and Al were both exhausted from being beaten on by Ed. Hikaru simply walked over to them as Ed looked up towards her.

"Ready to go, Hikaru?" Ed asked her.

"Uh…Sure." Hikaru answered looking down at her handcuffs. "Are we going back to Central?"

"We're going back to the Eastern Headquarters first." Ed explained. "The State Alchemist Exam takes place in Central, though." He sighed for a moment and then continued. "This has turned into a bigger hassle than I would've thought. The colonel sure knows how to torture us."

"Brother, why are there handcuffs on Hikaru?" Al asked just noticing the handcuffs keeping Hikaru's wrists tied together.

Ed walked over to Hikaru and placed his right hand on her shoulder. He gave Al a weird, evil smile and said, "Right here is the thief we were assigned to hunt down." Al gasped and Armstrong looked at Ed with a stunned look. Ed just gave them an evil grin and continued, "And I caught her single-handedly."

"More like you jumped on top of her and forced her to see everything your way." Al said doubting Ed's capture. "I never knew my own brother was an evil Super Pervert"  
Ed was infuriated and ran towards Al trying to rapidly punch him as much as possible. In between his slower punches Ed shouted, "I AM NOT A PERVERT! AND ESPECIALLY I'M NOT A SUPER PERVERT!"

Armstrong walked over to Hikaru, who was watching the two Elric brothers beat the living out of each other. He bent over and whispered kind of loudly into her ear, "Is it really true that Edward caught you single-handedly?"

Hikaru looked up at Armstrong and answered, "Well he did catch me, but I'm not that sure about him catching me single-handedly." She smiled and continued to watch the Elric brothers. "It's more like I'm turning myself in, though."

"You're turning yourself in?" Armstrong questioned. "You know you're dealing with the military, right?"

Hikaru continued to watch Ed and Al and replied, "Ed promised to help me get through with the military and also help me become a State Alchemist."

"You know being a State Alchemist means that you are required to obey every order they give you?" Armstrong continued to question her. "You'll end up like Edward and myself, obeying orders that are even against our own will."

Hikaru turned towards the Major and said, "I know what the consequences are, but I'm still going to go through with it. There's a weird feeling inside of me that I can't describe, and it's telling me that there's something waiting for me if I accept Ed's help with the State Alchemist Exam. So I can't refuse the opportunity that's waiting ahead of me."

Armstrong saw Hikaru's determination in her eyes and began to burst into tears. The tears quickly trickled down his face like waterfalls as he suddenly embraced Hikaru with his large muscular arms. "Oh such determination, Hikaru!" He shouted as he tightly hugged her, almost breaking her bones. "You touched my heart!"

"That's…good to… know." Hikaru said chokingly as Armstrong was crushing her with his muscular arms. Ed stopped fighting with Al and turned around to see what kind of nonsense Armstrong was causing. The two brothers quickly rushed to Hikaru's rescue. Ed motioned for Al to come closer into a certain kind of formation. Ed ran towards the right, trying to position himself directly in front of his younger brother. Al picked up little more speed on his pace and placed the back of his right hand on his left palm. Ed jumped into the air as Al place his hands underneath his brother's feet and launched him higher into the air. Ed was soaring at a fast speed towards Armstrong. He stretched his right leg out and nailed Armstrong directly in the face with a strong aerial kick.

Armstrong lost his grip on Hikaru, fell to the ground on his back, and looked as if he were out cold. Ed gracefully fell to the ground next to Hikaru perfectly on his two feet. Al quickly joined up with Ed and the two stood proudly saying,

"There you have the Elric Brothers' Trinity Strike (Lv.1)!"

Hikaru walked over to Ed and Al, properly bowed to them, and said that she was thankful for them rescuing her. In the meantime, Armstrong regained consciousness and got back up his two legs. He crept silently behind the two Elric brothers and exclaimed with steams of anger shooting out of his nostrils,

"Why would you two try to attack me, Alex Louis Armstrong, of the Great Armstrong Generation?"

"We were just trying to save Hikaru, Major." Ed explained with a frightened tone in his voice.

"We didn't mean to hurt you at all." Al added with scared voice tone as well. Armstrong didn't believe the two Elric brothers and his right fist began to rapidly shake. There was a strange red aura emanating form his fist and there was white shine coming from his eyes. He quickly ran up towards the Elric brothers and unleashed an immensely powerful uppercut directly at them. The uppercut was so devastating that it managed to actually send both brothers soaring through the air at a massive speed. Ed and Al broke right through the glass window and flew into the sky until they weren't visible anymore.

"Ed! Al!" Hikaru called out over at the broken window. She was surprised to see the brothers fly off into the sky from Armstrong's uppercut and tried to assume where they would land. "They should be on the other side of Elendia if my estimations are correct."

"That should be at the entrance near Resembool?" Armstrong guessed as he began to flex his large muscles.

"That should be correct." Hikaru answered as she jumped out the broken window. She landed perfectly on a tree branch that was about the same height level as the floor she and Armstrong were on. Hikaru turned around and said, "I suggest you should be heading out too, Major. I know a special shortcut."

"It better not be leaping from branch to branch." Armstrong replied.

"Don't worry about it." Hikaru assured him. "You couldn't stand on these branches without having them break off instantly 'cause of your size and weight. Even thought these are strong branches, they won't be able to support the weight of large muscled man, like you."

"So what are you suggesting for me to do?" Armstrong asked her.

"Just jump out the window." Hikaru answered. "I'll explain everything from there."

Armstrong took a few steps back, got into a running position, and took off. He leaped through the window, breaking off the rest of the loose glass and landed to the ground creating a small earthquake. The sudden quake caused Hikaru to fall right out of the tree branch and land on the ground on her bottom.

"Maybe letting the him jump out the window was a bad idea." Hikaru mumbled her regret. She got back on her feet and was surprised that she didn't feel any pain from the fall. She checked at how high the branch was and just thought that she was must've gotten used to the pain of falling of trees.

"You said you'd explain things from here." Armstrong reminded.

"Yeah." Hikaru merely replied as she led him to the back of the mansion. There was small locked safe that was as big as the size of a doghouse hidden underneath the giant tree that was connected to the mansion. Hikaru took the safe out and Armstrong was amazed to see her strength. She took a lock pick from her pockets and carefully picked the lock. Inside the safe was a small box filled with junk, mostly consisting of metal pipes. She pulled the box out and relocked the safe.

"What do you plan to do with that, Miss Hikaru?" Armstrong asked.

"Watch and see." Hikaru simply answered as she dumped all the junk over the forest floor. Hikaru clapped her hands and placed them over the junk pile, performing Alchemy. Blue light surrounded the junk pile, and it suddenly morphed into a large bicycle that even Armstrong can ride without having it break.

"You seem to do Alchemy the same way Edward does." Armstrong commented.

"He doesn't need a circle to perform Alchemy?" Hikaru asked.

"Correct." The Major answered. "That's how I've always seen him perform it. I have circles on my gloves and the same goes for the colonel. By the way Miss Hikaru, what is the bicycle for?"

"I thought this could be a fast way trough the forest, since I assumed you have incredible speed on it due to your strong muscles." Hikaru assumed as Armstrong curled his mustache and walked over to the bike. He picked up Hikaru, placed her on the back of the bike seat, and hopped on himself.

"What are you doing?" asked Hikaru.

"Hang on!" Armstrong merely answered and he began to peddle at immense speed. The two were traveling through the forest with an incredible speed that Hikaru believed she could be able to reach the other side of Elendia in no time. "Just provide me with the directions and I'll take of everything else." Armstrong told her as the bike started to pick up more speed.

"All right." Hikaru said. "Just keep going straight and avoid all the trees that stand in your way. That should take you to the front of Elendia that is connected with Resembool."

Armstrong began to peddle quicker and in about five minutes he and Hikaru can see Resembool through the thick grove of trees. Lying on Resembool soil was Ed and Al. Ed was on the ground rubbing his back to ease the pain while stood up. Noticing the Elric brothers, Armstrong hit the breaks and Hikaru held on tightly to Armstrong's shoulders to prevent herself from being thrown off the bike.

"Ed! Al! You two ok?" Hikaru said as she jumped off the bike and helped Ed get back up on his legs.

"Yeah." Ed answered. "But I learned something today."

"What is it, brother?" Al asked.

"Never try to anger Major Armstrong." Ed told Al as Hikaru watched the two brothers talk with a simple smile on her face. Then Ed turned around to face Hikaru and asked, "By the way Hikaru what's with that big bike?"

"Oh! I transmuted a bike using Alchemy and some junk random people dumped in Elendia." Hikaru said walking over to the bike. "And I believe that this size is the only one that the Major can actually ride on."

Ed had an evil grin on his face as if he were scheming up a sinister plan. He rubbed his chin with an evil twinkle in his eye, and then he ran off to a nearby house. Hikaru, Al, and Armstrong all wondered what Ed was up to. Ed soon came back carrying a large plastic bag over his back. He set the dark bag down on the ground and motioned Hikaru over with his hand. She was curious to see what kind of scheme he concocting was in his odd mind. Ed whispered the plan out in Hikaru's ear to make sure that the Major and his brother couldn't listen.

Within seconds a large motorbike was tremendously speeding through the countryside streets of Resembool. Ed was riding in the front of the seat with Hikaru hanging tightly on to his waist, Armstrong sitting in the center in full comfort, and Al sitting in the back controlling the speed of the engine. The speed of the motorbike was going massively fast. Ed and Al were both screaming whenever they came upon a hill and flew high off into the air. Hikaru held a tight grip around Ed's waist trying to prevent herself from flying off into the wind, and while everyone was in an uncomfortable position on the bike, the Major just proudly smiles with pink and sparkles around his face.

The bike went speeding over a large hill and went flying high-sky! When the bike hit the ground it ran right into someone's clotheslines. That person came out into her yard and began yelling at Ed and the others. Before they ran into the clotheslines, Hikaru closed her eyes, not wanting to look at the bike crashing into the lines. After the crash she reopened her eyes and was shocked to see the result of the crash. Ed had three women's panties wrapped on to his head, Al was wearing a man's boxer over his whole head, and Armstrong had a large bra equipped to his chest. Hikaru was disgusted by this and ripped the pink panties of Ed's head and let it go in the wind, but that didn't go too far. The panties were caught in the wind, but one landed on Al's head and the other two flew right into Armstrong's face.

Finally Edward and the others reached close to the Resembool train station, but before they can arrive at their final destination, there was another large hill blocking their path. The motorbike sped right over the hill and again into the bright, blue sky. People at the train station were screaming as they saw the bike come flying down from the sky. Hikaru waited for a moment and then stood up on the bike.

"Hikaru what the hell are you doing?" Ed shouted at her in concern. "You'll lose balance!"

Hikaru didn't answer him and jumped right off the speeding motorbike. She held out her arms and legs, letting the wind carry her down. Hikaru landed perfectly on the ground, while the motorbike crashed right into the wall causing a small explosion behind her. Some people were screaming from the explosion, but some were clapping for Hikaru's marvelous performance. Hikaru smirked and then took a look behind her. Ed came out from dark smokescreen with his hair poofed up like an afro, Al had dust and dirt smeared over his armor, but Armstrong came out of it looking as normal as ever, shining twinkle around his face and the bra still strapped to his chest.

Hikaru looked up at the round clock on the tall black pole in front of the station and shouted, "We have to hurry! The train leaves noon!"

Ed quickly straitened his hair back to normal while running as fast as he could to catch up with Hikaru. Al tore the bra off Armstrong and the two followed Hikaru as well. In the station Hikaru gave the ticket booth clerk a small moneybag and asked for four tickets to Central. He gave her a nod and handed her the four thin tickets. Hikaru's delay at the ticket booth was enough for Ed and the others to catch up. When they reached her, she handed them three tickets and kept one for herself. Afterwards the four alchemists ran together through the station hoping to not have missed the train to Central. An employee at the gate asked for their tickets before he can let them through the gate. Hikaru threw the ticket at the employee, while everyone else handed them in normally as they ran right through. Hikaru looked for a clock around the departure platform and caught a glimpse of one as she was running. She saw the minute hand tick from 11:59 to 12:00 and then steam came out of the train's steam blower. The train began to slowly take off and Hikaru and the others dashed for it. Ed jumped and grabbed the metal handle on the side of the train. Al and Armstrong simply jumped in and perfectly made it. The train started to pick up speed, as it is about to leave the station. Edward held out his hand for Hikaru to grab on to.

"Hurry Hikaru!" Ed shouted as he continued to hold out his hand for her.

"I am, Ed!" Hikaru shouted back as she leaped into the air and grabbed Ed's hand. He pulled her close to him and let her jump into the train. Ed continued to hang on to the metal bar as Hikaru said to him, "C'mon Ed. Let's go inside."

Ed ignored what she said and asked, "Are you sure you want to become State Alchemist, Hikaru?"

"I've already made up my mind." Hikaru replied. "I'll join the military and maybe if they see how my Alchemy are, they might actually accept me. That probably would be a good way to clear my name and possibly any criminal records."

"All right." Ed said with his unsure feeling disappearing from him. "I just don't want to see you hurt."

"I'll be fine, Edward, but thank you about your concern, though." Hikaru smiled as she reassured him.

Ed's smile returned to his face as he looked onward into the shining blue sky and shouted from outside the train, "Then onward to our return to Central!"


	8. Chapter 8: Morning

Chapter 8: Morning 

Steam filled the air as the train from Resembool arrived in Central, blowing its steam blower strongly. Passengers quickly left the train shoving and pushing each other trying to get to certified destination in time. The four alchemists seem to be caught in the midst of the stampeding crowd as they too, left the train.

"YES! WE'RE FINALLY IN CENTRAL!" Ed shouted at the top of his lungs, as he and the others finally break loose of the large crowd. Al was simply looking around the area, Armstrong put up his serious face, while Hikaru just fiddled with the handcuffs Ed tied on her wrists. Soon two military soldiers walk up to the four and saluted them.

"Greetings Major Armstrong. We are here to escort you." The female soldier says as she continues to respectively salute the Major.

"Thank you for coming all the way here, Lieutenant Ross, and you as well, Sergeant Brosh." Armstrong formally greeted them back.

"Oh! Is that the great and well-known Fullmetal Alchemist?" Sergeant Brosh asked as he noticed Al. The two soldiers walked up to the younger Elric brother as their eyes filled with adulation.

"My name is Second Lieutenant Maria Ross!" Ross greeted excitedly. "It is an honor to meet someone just as great as you, sir!"

"Sergeant Denny Brosh at your service, sir!" Brosh exclaimed as he saluted to Al again. "I can see where you got your nickname! It suits you well!"

"Um…" Al began. "I'm not the Fullmetal Alchemist." The two military soldiers looked at him in shock. "My brother, over there, is." Al said as he pointed his finger at Ed.

"You mean that little guy?" Brosh asked pointing directly at Ed. Steam shot out of Ed's nostrils as his head became filled with rage. He was about to run wildly and furiously at Brosh and Ross, but Armstrong and Hikaru kept a tight grip on him.

"I-I'm so sorry, sir!" Ross quickly apologized.

"P-Please accept my apologies, also sir!" Brosh added.

Armstrong and Hikaru finally let go of Ed as Ross and Brosh curiously walked over to Hikaru. She stood quietly behind Ed looking at the two people that seem unknown to her. Both soldiers held out their hands and greeted her.

"Nice meeting you I'm Maria Ross." Lieutenant Ross politely said as she and Hikaru shook hands. Hikaru had a little trouble with handshakes, though. She curled up her left hand into a fist, so Ross could shake her right one.

"And I'm Denny Brosh." Brosh also said as he too shook Hikaru's hand. "Are you the Fullmetal Alchemist's girlfriend?"

"Wha-?" Hikaru said with a shocked expression and then she suddenly began to stammer frantically, "I-I'm… w-well… I-I…"

"There is absolutely no relationship between us!" Ed answered for Hikaru. "She's the thief I was sent to capture!"

"Oh that's good to hear." Brosh sighed. "If she were your girlfriend I would've asked you why you placed handcuffs on her.

"Well it looks like my job is done here." Armstrong butted in. "I'll go over to the headquarters and file my report."

"So this is good-bye, Major?" Ed sarcastically asked with his mind now filled with happiness. "Thanks for all your help! Write to me soon! Or at least send me a nice postcard! Bye-Bye!"

Armstrong rammed himself at Ed and grabbed him with tears flying out of his eyes. His tears fell like waterfalls as he shouted, "I will never forget the good times we have shared together on this journey (except for getting booted in the face by the Elric Brothers' Trinity Strike (Lv.1))! Until we meet again!" he finally let go of Ed and dropped on the station floor. He then turned straight at Hikaru. Hikaru closed her eyes waiting for Armstrong inevitable embrace, but he just simply patted her on the head. "Edward would probably kick me in the head again if I try to hug you." She looked up at Armstrong and wondered about what he said. "You are actually a pretty lucky girl, Miss Hikaru. Farewell for now." Armstrong let go of her head and looked at Brosh and Ross. "I'm leaving these three with you."

"Bodyguards?" Ed exclaimed in disbelief.

"Of course, bodyguards!" Armstrong replied. "According to the reports from Central and East headquarters Scar is still at large around those two area. Since you won't be able to have the great Major Armstrong as you bodyguard, I'm leaving you with these two." Armstrong waved them good-bye and walked into a small black military vehicle that was waiting for him.

After Armstrong's car left another military car drove in. This car was sent to pick up the Elric brothers and their two bodyguard soldiers. But the military didn't expect Hikaru to be coming along so they sent over a small car.

"Will there be enough room for five?" Hikaru asked as Denny and Ross already hopped in.

"I could sit over with the Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh." Al offered. "They're sitting in what seems to be a large three-person seat. You could go and sit with brother."

"Thank you, Al." Hikaru thanked him and climbed on the small, soft seat. The seat was literally small. Hikaru and Ed had to sit with their shoulders touching to fit. The driver started up the engine and as smoke came out of the car's exhaust pipe the car drove off to the Central military headquarters.

Along the way the five passengers sat quietly, not even leaking out one word. Something was keeping them from starting up a conversation. Maybe they were all a little uncomfortable with each other, especially Ed and Hikaru. The two young alchemists were scrunched up next to each other and it didn't look delightful. Al quietly laughed as he watched his brother struggle to find comfort in sitting in a small seat with Hikaru. Brosh and Ross looked over at the chuckling Al and gazed back at the two alchemists again. With that Ross broke into a small chuckle herself, while Brosh just had a big smile on his face. That's how it went from then on until they finally reach the Central headquarters.

Ed and Hikaru were both relieved to finally be free from the crammed up car. The two walked on ahead, while Al and the two soldiers followed behind them. The door slid open and Ed marched off towards the colonel's office on the third floor, dragging Hikaru behind him. While they were walking around the headquarters, Hikaru began to get an uneasy feeling about it. She tugged on Ed's sleeve try to catch his attention.

He turned around and asked, "What's wrong Hikaru?"

"I'm getting a weird feeling about this place." Hikaru answered. "I don't know why, though. I'm that this is my first time here."

Ed was puzzled by Hikaru statement. He began to think about it for a few moments, but still couldn't logically figure it out. He just gave her a reasonable answer, "Maybe you're just a little shy or scared of the military soldiers."

"No. It's something else about this place that's bothering me, but I just can't quite put my finger on it." She replied. "Maybe, if I don't pay attention to it, it won't bother me anymore."

"If that makes you feel better, then go ahead and do what follow the decision you believe in most." Ed said wisely as he placed his hand on the doorknob of the door leading to the colonel's office. Before he opened the door he waited for Al, Brosh, and Ross to catch up. The two military soldiers were out of breath from attempting to catch up.

"The Colonel should be in there, brother." Al said. "He came over here for the State Alchemist Exam. He's looking forward for the next Alchemist with just as much skill as you."

"That's great to hear Al." Ed replied sarcastically. "Can you and the two bodyguards stay out here for a moment? I want a private conversation with Colonel and Hikaru."

"I guess… that would be all right with" Al sighed.

Ed twisted the doorknob open and pulled Hikaru in, quickly closing the door on the other three standing outside. The two soldiers were curious at what the Fullmetal Alchemist was up to, while Al wondered why his own brother wants to keep a certain secret from him.

Once Ed and Hikaru were inside the colonel's office, Ed made sure that the door was locked and that was the cue for the colonel to turn around in his spinning chair to face them. There, sitting in the large, red spinning chair was Colonel Roy Mustang. He placed his elbows on the table and entangled his fingers together.

"I believe that is the thief, right Fullmetal?" he asked.

"Yeah, Yeah" Ed quickly replied. "Y'know, I only did this so I can this problem off my back"  
"I know." Roy smirked. "You would never do a mission in favor of me. But I know something that can favor me greatly." He then stares directly at Hikaru.

"I heard from Edward that if you an find a highly trained Alchemist, full of talent, then you won't have to worry about the State Alchemist assessment for this year and get yourself a bonus on your paycheck." Hikaru stated. "Is that right?"

"Yes, that's correct." Roy answered a little bit surprised. "That idea of yours would actually benefit me more than what I'd originally planned."

"What the hell was it anyway?" Ed questioned, doubting that it was actually anything beneficial.

"Well I planned on…" Roy said slowly trying to build up the suspense. Then he jumped on the table with sparkles of determination in his eyes, like Armstrong, and shouted, "…MAKING HER WEAR A TINY MINI-SKIRT FROM THIS DAY FORWARD!" he then began to laugh maniacally.

Edward sighed and whispered quietly into Hikaru's ear, "I suggest you be careful around the Colonel. He acts a really awkward when it comes to perversion and his tiny mini-skirt fantasy."

After Roy calmed down from his evil crazy laughter asked Hikaru, "Why do want to know that finding a talented Alchemist will benefit me?"

"Well," Hikaru began, "I was wondering if I can become a State Alchemist and you can clear my criminal record. I can't say that I'm as talented as Ed, but I believe that I'm skilled enough to pass the exam with flying colors."

"I like your determination," Roy smiled for a bit, but then gave her a serious look, "but I'm not the type of person that'll let a criminal slide past through easily."

Hikaru sadly sighed and quietly gazed at the handcuffs Ed bound her wrist in. Ed stood by Hikaru and pitied her. Watching Hikaru gazing sadly down made Roy sad inside himself. He felt a strange missing memory of his past was returning to him and his eyes began to get watery. He clutched his head and tried to bring up smile from underneath his crying heart.

"By the way, what is your name?" Roy asked.

Hikaru head shot up as she quickly replied, "It's Hikaru, sir."

Roy sighed softly and spoke up again, "Well, I guess I can let you slide past the law just this one time, Hikaru." Hikaru's face lit up and she turned around, noticing that Ed was happy for her as well. "I'll sign you up for the State Alchemist exam as soon as possible. So Ed I would suggest for you to release her from those handcuffs immediately."

"Yeah whatever." Ed replied and unlocked the handcuffs, dropping them on to the floor. Hikaru felt the light weight of her hands again and was enraptured. Ed gazed at Hikaru and was also happy to see that magic smile of hers return to her face again. He then said to her shyly, "You should smile like that more often, Hikaru…"

Hikaru noticed the honesty in Ed's statement and replied, "Thank you, Ed. But it's actually hard to smile like that all the time. When you feel like your 'wings' are lost or broken, it's actually pretty difficult to think about happiness and all that will be shown on your face will just be a fake smile. You can try to fool people with that fake smile, but the ones who you feel are the most close to you will see that you have lost your ability to fly. They will see that your ability to finally touch the sky is broken forever…" Hikaru leaned back against the wall, sighed, and then stared sadly at the floor, thinking about the meaningful statement she just spoke.

_She mentioned something about "wings" again!_ Ed thought. _What on earth does all this stuff about "wings" mean?_ Ed placed his right hand underneath Hikaru's chin, letting her feel the soft leather of his white gloves as he lifted her face up to match with his. He stretched his left hand out against the wall just right above Hikaru's right shoulder and gazed into her sad crimson eyes. She looked up into his shining gold eyes and took quick notice of the smile on his face.

"Hey, cheer up Hikaru." Ed said as he let go of her chin and softly patted Hikaru on the head. "I don't want you to end up being a crybaby." He gave her a really big smile and Hikaru gave him that magical smile in return. He gave her a few knocks in the head and laughed, "C'mon I'll help you study for the exam tomorrow." He rested his left arm on the top of her head and continued to laugh. "So no more sadness and sorrow, 'k shorty?"

Hikaru smacked Ed directly on his head and laughed at him, even Ed laughed after recovering from the hit. She helped him up and the two went off to the exit of the office. But as they were turning towards the door, Ed let out a large scream.

"Ed, what's wrong?" Hikaru wondered and then turned towards the direction of the door. "Oh, hello Al."

Al had an evil, scheming tone in his small, little chuckle and said, "I see what the private conversation was about. After the Colonel left the room, he left the room unlocked. So I peeked in and heard just about everything you said. And you were planning on scoring a secret, romantic moment with your new girlfriend, weren't you brother?"

"WHY THE HELL WOULD I DO THAT!" Ed shouted as he jumped into the air and began to ragingly thrash at Al.

Hikaru also leaped into the air, but she kicked Ed instead of Al. Ed landed on the floor while Hikaru looked directly at Al with a serious look on her face and said, "It's like what Ed said back when we arrived at Central. There is absolutely no relationship between us."

Al saw that Hikaru was actually being serious about this and understood how she felt. He stopped laughing and said, "I'll believe whatever you say, Hikaru, but I'm not sure if I can with my brother."

Ed jumped up again in anger, slowly saying in a threatening voice, "What the hell did you just say about me?"

"Calm down, Ed." Hikaru said as she held Ed back from attacking his brother. "Aren't you supposed to help me study for the exam? You won't be able to help if you try to attack Al every moment from here on."

"All right. You do have a point." Ed said as he finally calmed down. He ran over to the bookshelf in the office and took some time to pick out some Alchemy books on the shelf. He called Hikaru and Al over to help him carry the stacks of books he picked out. "These books should help prepare you for the exam. But we'll first have to find a hotel that we can use for now."

The night's darkness crept upon the large city of Central. The streetlights were shining brightly on the empty streets and military guards were in patrol of their designated location around the city. Basically, no regular people were wandering around the streets at night, but a strange figure casts its shadow upon the barren city. It was a rather large figure sitting on the roof of a small hotel, staring out into the clouded night sky. As the large figure continued to gaze at the starless sky, two more mysterious figures walk in on the scene.

"So how are things going, Gluttony?" the womanly figure asked.

"Welcome back Lust. And you too, Envy." Gluttony greeted as he turned his gaze from the sky and towards the two figures behind him.

"Is the reawakening of Tsubasa coming close?" Envy asked.

"Not sure." Gluttony replied as he placed his index finger in his mouth to show his uncertainty.

"That's all right, Gluttony." Lust said as she patted Gluttony on his bald head. "Just watch the State Alchemist Exam that's being held tomorrow here in Central and if there's any sign of Tsubasa almost awakening, let us know immediately."

"Got it." Gluttony answered with a big evil grin.

At about that same moment, there a small lights shining through the red curtain of a room in the hotel the three homunculi rested on the rooftop of. Inside that bright hotel room were Ed, Al, and Hikaru. Hikaru and Ed were over at the table reviewing through the Alchemy books they borrowed from the colonel's office, while Al was sitting on one of the two beds surprised to see that Ed and Hikaru actually finished through almost all the stacks of books. He then turned towards the two young Alchemists and watched them study vigorously. Ed placed his hand on Hikaru's shoulder and pointed out a certain section in the book she needed to focus on for the exam. After reading the section Hikaru was delighted to find out that she already knows the information she needed. Ed simply gave her a kind smile and skimmed through the book for any more sections they should cover. Ed looked through the entire book and then sighed, tossing it into the pile of already-read books. Al just laughed as he watched his brother acting so seriously in helping his new friend study for the State Alchemist Exam.

After they finished through all the books and cleaned up the pile of them, Ed mentioned that it was about two in the morning and that everyone should get some rest. Al climbed into his bed and peacefully rested there, but Ed and Hikaru had one little problem, there was only one bed left.

"This looks like a problem." Hikaru said as she looks up at Ed. His face was completely red with blush.

"Y-You can sleep in the bed, Hikaru." He stuttered a bit as he closed his eyes not wanting to look at her face.

"Then where would you sleep, Ed?" Hikaru asked.

"Maybe on the floor or at least the table." Ed answered, hoping Hikaru would just take the bed instead of worrying about him.

"You helped me with the review I needed for the exam you should rest on the bed." Hikaru kindly offered. "I can probably look at one of the books again and maybe I'll fall asleep on the table while studying."

"No way, Hikaru!" Ed argued back. "You're the one who needs the most rest! Remember you have an important exam tomorrow that can lift your criminal record."

Hikaru fought back with her own comment and the two began to bicker back and forth. Their loud voices seemed to have ticked Al off. He got up from his bed and chucked both Hikaru and Ed into the second bed. Ed landed on the bed first while Hikaru landed afterwards on his back.

"If you two would shut up and quit arguing, then maybe one person could actually get some rest!" Al shouted at them angrily and then went back to sleep. Ed and Hikaru looked at each other and apologized.

"This is actually a pretty big bed." Ed noticed. "Maybe if you sleep at the far left side and I sleep over at the far right side, then there shouldn't be any problems, right? Just as long as we don't come into contact, 'k?"

"All right," Hikaru replied. "That should be fine with me." The two slipped into the bed and Hikaru quickly fell asleep. Ed just pondered through his thoughts.

_Everything feels so different now…_ Ed thought. _Ever since Hikaru saved me from Scar, things have been going along a different path. I like the ways things are going for me right now. I enjoy helping Hikaru, watching her help me in return, and watching her smile is the best part of it all. She seems to be smiling a lot more than when I met her. I just want to keep things like this going on forever. Even though I want to restore Al's and my bodies back to normal, I don't ever want to change my memories of Hikaru. I want the memories to last on forever…_ After that last thought Ed drifted fast asleep.

At about six in the morning Hikaru quietly lifted the bed sheets off her, making sure she doesn't wake Ed. She crept out of the bed and wandered herself in the dark to the window. She softly opened the red curtains trying not to make as much noise as possible. The sky was still kind of dark outside. Hikaru placed her hand on the window and sadly looked out into the city streets of Central, in deep thought.

Suddenly the strange pain strongly stabs her chest again. Hikaru quickly held tightly on to her chest as she fell to the ground creating a loud noise that woke Ed up from his sleep. Ed jumped out of his bed and ran towards Hikaru, who was lying on the floor with her left hand clenching on her chest and the other over her mouth. She roughly coughed and lifted the hand off her mouth. Ed was stunned when he saw that her right hand was dripping with fresh blood. Blood slowly dripped from the side of her lip and trickled down to the tip of her chin. Ed helped her up fro the floor and rushed towards the restroom.

"Al!" Ed shouted as he woke his younger brother up. "Hurry and get me a wet towel!" Al saw the trail of bloody puddles on the floor leading towards the restroom where his brother was trying to help Hikaru stop the bleeding. Al quickly reached for a small white towel in the clean laundry basket and soaked it heavily with water. He threw the towel over to Ed and watched his brother snatch it from the air. Hikaru's cheeks bloated, and then she hurled out a stream of blood into the sink, leaving it stained with a dark red color. Afterwards she began to gush out more large drops of blood for each cough. Ed gently wiped the wet towel on her lips cleaning off the blood as she panted trying to find time to rest before she begins to cough up more blood. She wiped her blood-filled hands on the towel, leaving it almost completely covered in red. Suddenly her cheeks bloated again and she hurled a larger stream of blood into the blood-filled sink. Hikaru then fell to the sink with her hands soaking in her thick, fluid blood. She seemed to have collapsed from exhaustion and large amounts blood loss. Ed grabbed her legs and lifted her out of the restroom and over to the closest bed. He placed her softly on to it and asked his younger brother for a new wet towel. Al soaked up another and threw it towards Ed. The towel simply fell into his hands and then he started wiping all the fresh blood off Hikaru's hands and her lips. Her blood quickly tainted the towel, but fortunately the bleeding and the pain stopped. She stopped panting and soon drifted asleep, resting peacefully.

"Is she going to be all right, brother?" Al asked in concern.

"Let's just hope so, Al." Ed answered as Al handed him a new towel and he placed it over Hikaru's forehead. He then sat in the bed right next to her.

As Al began to clean up the bloody sink, Ed was, again, lost in his thoughts. _Why did this have to happen again? And right before the exam too. What's this pain that's always troubling you so? If you would at least tell me what it is I may be able to help you. Hikaru…_ Ed soon began to feel a bit drowsy and tired. He rested his head close to Hikaru's, letting his face feel the softness of her warm cheeks. He the shut his eyelids and drifted asleep as well.


	9. Chapter 9: Exam

Translation Notes:

**Seigen** means **Restriction** in Japanese

* * *

Chapter 9: Exam 

It was approximately ten in the morning. A soft breeze slipped into the room through the open window and gently blew across Hikaru's face. The nice morning chill awoke Hikaru from her sleep. She threw the bed sheet off her and jumped right out of the bed. She walked over to the window and felt the gentle wind embrace her whole body. Her mind felt fresh and clear, making her ready for the State Alchemist Exam that occurs today at noon. Hikaru looked through the books again for some quick review when she heard a knock on the door. She twisted the golden doorknob and opened the door.

"Glad you're feeling better, Hikaru." Ed happily said as he gave her a big smile. "I brought you some breakfast." He handed her a plate with a couple pieces of butter-covered toast, scrambled eggs, and a few pieces of bacon.

"Thank you, Ed." Hikaru replied as she took the plate from his hand and placed it over on the table. Ed walked over into the room and set his plate on the table as well. He grabbed another chair and ate his breakfast with Hikaru.

"Hikaru," Ed said wanting to say something to break the silence between them. "I was wondering about everything you say about 'wings'. What do you mean by them?"

Hikaru looked up from her food and towards Ed, replying, "'Wings' are 'wings'. Every human has 'wings'. Our 'wings' have the ability to take them anywhere we dream of. They are our guidance through our lives and dreams. But I don't know what they can do if they're broken…"

Hikaru was cut off when the door opened and in came Al. He came to tell them to hurry and get ready for the exam. The two Alchemists decided to save this talk for another time and quickly finished the rest of their breakfast. Then they were right out the door.

About an hour later, Hikaru, Ed, and Al were standing in front of the Central military headquarters prepared for State Alchemist Exam. Hikaru waved the Elric brothers good-bye and began to walk up the stairs, but was held back for a moment.

"Good luck, Hikaru!" Ed kindly wished for her. "Remember that they start off with the written test first, then the physical check, and finally the Alchemy performance test. And don't forget all the reviewing we did last night!"

"Thanks, Ed." Hikaru gave him her magical smile and let go of his grip. She ran up the stairs and into the large military building.

"When is the Alchemy performance test?" Al asked because he was really eager to see Hikaru in action.

"That should be around two O'clock." Ed answered. "They usually give a large amount of time to take the written test and it'll take a while to get the physical check. That was the one part that you couldn't pass."

"Then what should we do in our spare time?" Al asked.

"Maybe return all those books we borrowed from the colonel's office." Ed gave him a quick reply and the two Elric brothers ran back towards the hotel.

Inside the colossal military headquarters, Hikaru began to wander around the building looking for the testing when she soon happens to bump into the Colonel. Hikaru fell to the ground on her bottom.

"You ok?" Roy asked as he handed out his hand towards her.

"Yeah," Hikaru answered while letting him help her off the floor, "sorry I bumped into you though."

"It's all right." Roy said as she accepted her apology. "I'm just glad you're fine."

"Um, can you tell me where the testing room is?" Hikaru asked.

"It's on the highest floor. Take the elevator and it should be the first room from there." Roy replied placing his hands on her head. He leaned down looking at her directly into her crimson eyes and softly rubbed his hand on her soft hair, saying, "I'm rooting for you, kid, so you better do your best out there." Hikaru smiled magically at Roy and he too smiled back. He watched Hikaru run towards the elevator before he walked off on his own. _That smile…_ he thought for moment and then continued to proceed down the hallway.

The elevator hit the top floor and opened its doors. Hikaru dashed out of it and grabbed on to the doorknob of the first door she came across to brake her from her speeding motion. She twisted the doorknob and opened the door and was amazed at the monstrous size of the testing room. There was a tall man with a dark mustache standing behind the high counter. He walked over to Hikaru and handed out a hand towards her with a smile.

"I am Fuhrer King Bradley." He kindly greeted.

"I'm Hikaru." Hikaru replied as she shook his hand.

"You're going to be sitting at the top of the row." He pointed out and Hikaru thanked him as she ran up the stairs and took her seating at the long light brown table on the highest step. The Fuhrer had several military soldiers hand out the test booklets and answer sheets to the many applicants applying for the State Alchemist position. Hikaru was surprised to see so many applicants applying for this position and how out of all of them only one will actually be able to gain the title. The Fuhrer held a stopwatch in his hand and shouted for all of them to begin and clicked the button on top of the timer.

Hikaru quickly opened the test booklet and immediately beginning her test. Looking at the first ten problems on the page she noticed that all the problems looked a bit too easy for her. She knew that she was going to breeze through this exam quick. She softly laughed to herself as she remembered the hard studying she and Ed did last night and began to speed through the test. The Fuhrer took notice of this quick thinking speed of Hikaru's and immediately took a sinister grin over his face.

By the time Hikaru finished with the whole test booklet, she took a look at some of the other applicants sitting somewhat closely to her and was a bit shocked to see that the majority of them were only or barely close to half way through the book. She stared up at the high-up ceiling hoping that the others would finish a lot quicker so everyone could just move on to the physical check. She easily fell asleep from her boredom and immediately began dreaming.

_There was a tall, young man at about nineteen years old standing in front of a five year-old Hikaru. His face wasn't very clear, but he had the same colored hair she had, black. Hikaru was running up to him and he leaned down opening his arms out wide waiting for a loving hug from her. Hikaru jumped into his arms and embraced him with her own small arms. Then two other little girls, that were exactly the same age as Hikaru, came running in as well. The young man embraced all three of them affectionately and the four looked as if they were never able to be broken._

_Suddenly that happy, loving image disappeared and in came a sudden flash of blood and darkness. The young man was shocked beyond belief as he saw Hikaru sitting a pool of purely fresh blood surrounded by the dead bodies of the two other small girls. Rain pelted strongly on the two who still remained in the living. The man was too frightened by the image he was seeing before him and seeing two of the three girls he loved so much, was too much for him to bear. He screamed as he fell to the ground on his knees and let his tears rush down his damp face into the pool of blood. The man crawled in the blood and looked up at Hikaru. He asked Hikaru what had happened and Hikaru answered him as she leaped into his arms began to cry out all of her tears. She cried loudly, but it was mute. Only the sound of the rolling thunder was heard. The question the young man asked and the answer Hikaru gave him, were both lost within the screaming thunder of the bloody rain on that tragic bloody day…_

Hikaru was clenching strongly to her head as the images of her dream were racing past her again. She clenched it harder trying to clear her head of those horrible images. She was in complete pain. Her head was close to exploding as she let out a loud painful scream. Suddenly something triggered her back to the real world. The Fuhrer was standing by her seat holding his hand on he shoulder. Hikaru looked up at him and then took a quick look around the room. It seemed that all the other applicants have already left. Hikaru turned her gaze back to Fuhrer Bradley and stood up while holding her hand up to her warm forehead.

"Glad to see you're feeling better." He said politely with a smile. "Now let's hurry. Don't want to keep the others waiting, right?"

"Yeah." Hikaru nodded as she and the Fuhrer finally left the testing room. Right outside in the hallway were all the applicants waiting for the next phase of the State Alchemist Exam. Fuhrer Bradley walked in front of the crowd and explained loudly.

"Listen up!" He shouted. "Next up is the physical check. This is where we check to see if your body is in a good enough physical condition making you eligible to proceed to the final phase. Please hurry and prepare yourselves while you wait in line for the person ahead of you."

The Fuhrer walked off into a dark room next to the testing room. The applicants were all required to order themselves in an alphabetical formation depending on the first letter of their last name. Everybody began to rush into a single-filed line leading to the dark room, while Hikaru ended up getting mixed into the stampeding crowd. She placed herself in the line after the person with his last name beginning with a letter H because she can't remember her last name. All she knew when she woke up one day, about a few months ago, that her name was Hikaru and nothing else. She can't remember anything about herself before her awakening. It was if she had a strange amnesia that would almost last for eternity. Hikaru wondered where her memories went, how she was able command Alchemic power skillfully, and why does some of the people around her seem strangely familiar to her. She stood in line, leaning against the wall thinking thoughtfully about how her enigma will all soon become clear to her.

An image of a small drop of blood hitting a water surface creating a loud, high-pitched echoing sound woke Roy from his sudden daze while filing some papers in his office. He jolted up from his chair and pictured blood drop in his mind again. He placed his hand on his forehead trying to erase the image out his mind for good. He didn't want to be reminded of it again.

As Roy read the papers on his desk he just realized that he had to have five soldiers transferred over to Central Headquarters to assist along side him. He sighed and reached for the black phone on the wall. But before he grabbed it he took a look at the paper again and noticed that the transfer was to occur in a few days. Roy was relieved that he didn't have to make annoying phone calls over to East Headquarters and instantly went back to his daydreaming.

It was finally Hikaru's turn to step into the dark room to continue on with the State Alchemist Exam. She walked into the room and nothing could be seen except for the light emitting from the open door. Suddenly the door shut with a loud slam and it was pitch black. Hikaru wondered how she was able to find herself around the room because of the darkness, until a bright spotlight flashed on behind her. She turned around and saw the Fuhrer sitting behind the desk directly in the middle of the spotlight. Another light hit a chair in the middle and Hikaru knew that she was to be seated in it. As she sat down the Fuhrer immediately began to ram questions at her. They were all simple questions that were no different than what he asked the other applicants. Suddenly an odd question slipped out of his mouth.

"Do you remember a girl named Natsumi?" Fuhrer Bradley asked with a weird smile written across his face.

"Natsumi?" Hikaru questioned, but was suddenly struck with a strange jolt of pain. She clutched her head as images of blood, again, flashed through her mind. She fell off the chair and on to the ground still hanging on tightly to her head. Hikaru limply got off the floor and back on her feet with one hand still over her forehead. The Fuhrer merely smirked at her and then gave out a big laugh.

"Seeing how you didn't completely collapse and pass out proves that you pass the physical check." Fuhrer Bradley said as he place marked that Hikaru passed the physical check on his applicant checklist. He walked over to Hikaru and stroked her head helping ease the pain in it. "Get some rest. The final part of the exam won't be here until after a while." He explained and then walked back to his desk as Hikaru left the room. She began to think of what she should do to kill off a few more hours left of her spare time. That's when an idea came into her mind. She dashed out of the military headquarters and ran for the hotel.

When Hikaru reached to her hotel room, she knocked the door to check if either Ed or Al was in there. The door opened and she noticed that Ed and Al were in there studying a bit up on Alchemy. She stepped inside and lied on the bed resting up from her previous testing hours.

"How'd the exam go, Hikaru?" Al asked.

"Pretty well, I guess." She replied. "I still have the performance part of the exam left to go. You guys should come watch. I'll make the audience go wild!" Hikaru laughed as Ed simply smiled at her, happy to see that Hikaru was a lot happier than she was when they first met.

"Since it seems like the Fuehrer has given you a break session, let's head over to the Central Library!" Ed excitingly said as he grabbed Hikaru arm a picked her up from the bed. He dragged her right out of the room with her flying in the air behind him.

"Wait up, brother!" Al called from behind as he locked the door and dashed after Ed and Hikaru. When the three exited out of the hotel, Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh happened to be standing right outside the door and greeted them.

"Good afternoon Fullmetal." Ross said as she and Brosh gave Ed a salute. "I trust that you are well."

"Yeah, Yeah, we're all just fine. Now let's get going to the Central Library." Ed hastily replied as he tried to head on over to the library.

"Well, the reason we're here is to make sure you are safe from anyone, like Scar." The Sergeant explained.

"We don't need anymore bodyguards." Ed complained.

"Just let them accompany us and that way we'll get to the library quicker." Hikaru reasonably spoke to her stubborn companion.

"She's right, Ed." Al added. "All that matters is that we get to go look at Tim Marcoh's records on Alchemy!"

"All right, all right! I'm convinced, guys." Ed laughed at the way that his brother and his new comrade tried to persuade him to go along with the bodyguards. They all hopped into the black military car and were all on their way the First Branch of the Central Library.

On the car ride to the library, Second Lieutenant Ross began to explain about the Central Libraries, "The National Central Library houses more books than any other nation in this country and possibly more than anywhere else in the world."

"Wow," Al said as he was fascinated at what Ross mentioned, "they must have Marcoh's records there, definitely! And possibly even more books on the Philosopher's Stone!"

While Ed and Al were getting even more excited as they reached closer to their destination, Hikaru was getting a weird uneasy feeling about the place. As the car got closer and closer to the library, she began to feel a more uncomfortable stress in her mind. The military vehicle made a turn around the corner of the street and drove straight forward. Finally the car made it to a stop and they all stepped out of to find that the library wasn't what they expected. The immensely large building was burnt to ashes and was only a pile of messy debris with an awful stench of smoke around it. It looked as if the building was burnt overnight and the smokescreen above the rubble still looked fresh. Ed, Al, and Hikaru were all shocked at the sight they are witnessing before them.

"Sadly," Ross began to explain, "there was a large fire inside the building that burned down the whole building, as well as all the books inside. Nothing was recovered from the inside and all was lost…"

Ed looked to the ground with a depressing expression on his face. He didn't bother to look back up at Hikaru and the others. He plainly stared at the ground, thinking deeply. Hikaru gazed sadly at Ed, feeling pity for him. She placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to get him out of his sorrowful mood and look up at her.

"Don't worry, Ed." Hikaru said reassuring him. "We can try another branch in Central. Remember, the libraries at Central contain a lot books. Maybe we can try another branch, and there's a possibility that the books you and Al are looking for could be in one of them. Let's just go and look at another branch."

Ed noticed that his moping would only waste precious time, and immediately thanked Hikaru for cheering him up. She gave him a jovial smile in return, and then wondered how much time has passed since the physical check of the exam. She ran over to Sergeant Brosh and asked for the time. Brosh slid the sleeve of his military uniform to reveal silver watch on his wrist.

"It should be about 1:50 p.m." Brosh replied. "Why? Do you need to go somewhere?"

"Yeah." Hikaru said as she quickly ran for the car. "I have to finish the last portion of the State Alchemist Exam." She hopped in along with the other four soldiers and driver drove as fast as he could back over the Central Military Headquarters. By the time they reached there, Hikaru quickly opened the car door and jumped out. She hit perfectly landed on the ground, and then sprinted inside the building.

"Let's head over the area of the performance test." Ed instructed as he ran off in another direction being followed by his brother and his bodyguards.

Once inside the building Hikaru immediately took the elevator to the top floor. The elevator hit the uppermost floor, and she quickly ran down the hallway. There she saw the Fuhrer read out a list of the people who passed the physical check. By the time she reached the crowd Fuhrer Bradley finished the list and announced that only five people have passed out of about 500 and was somehow barely amazed at how little passed.

Hikaru squeezed through the disappointed crowd of applicants and appeared out in front of the Fuhrer. He gave her a smile and congratulated her for passing in first place in both the first and second portion of the exam. Hikaru was overjoyed to see how well she did and rejoiced. The Fuhrer ordered all five passing applicants to follow him to the back of the military headquarters. They walked down a long, almost never-ending corridor until Fuhrer Bradley stopped them at an elevator. After every person walked inside the Fuhrer asked Hikaru to work the elevator. She willingly agreed and pressed the button taking them all to the bottom floor, close to the State Alchemist performance arena.

The five applicants followed the Fuhrer out of the headquarters and into a massively gargantuan coliseum. All five were amazed by the size of the arena was. Fuhrer Bradley walked over to some stairs in the wall near the entrance and quickly walked up them. He stood behind the judging podium and grabbed the microphone.

"First off, I would like congratulate these five strong applicants for making it this far in this rigorous exam." The Fuhrer began. "Now this is the final test to prove if they actually have the potential and skill to become State Alchemists." He then started the explanation of the final round to the participants. "The rules of the final portion of the exam are simple. I have soldiers lined up over at the large mountain, you see over at to the North of this arena. They will release the reservoir of water and the fluid will slide on certain river paths, crashing through the trees on the mountain, leading towards your territory of freshly grown plants and trees. Your territories are separated from each other by sturdy stonewalls. You're required to use Alchemy to stop the water from flowing into your plant life in this arena. I don't care whatever way you decide to stop the water, just as long as one of you is the first one to achieve success. Simple right? Now go take your places."

The applicants each walked over to a territory of their own choice. Hikaru picked the one that was exactly in the center of the others and scanned the wildly shouting audience for Ed. She looked over to the left of her and couldn't find him, but when she looked over to the right she clearly spotted him in the center of the spectator seats, maybe because of his height. He was sitting between Second Lieutenant Ross and his brother, with Sergeant Brosh sitting to left of Ross. When Ed and Hikaru came into perfect eye contact, they immediately waved at each other and exchanged smiles. Ed noticed the look in Hikaru's crimson eyes were full of determination and knew that she was ready for anything that came her way. That feeling made him feel confident as well. He was so proud to see her going through the exam with so much confidence and that feeling of confidence enraptured him. He immediately kept his focus on her as she faced the mountain prepared for the Fuhrer to tell the soldiers to release the water.

The Fuhrer climbed up to a tall tower and stuck two large, red flags into the air, and shouted to the participants, "READY…" All five applicants instantly place their focus on the large mountain standing distantly before them, waiting for him to give the signal to start. He soon shouted "BEGIN!" and waved the red flags downward towards his legs.

The flags gave the soldiers over at the reservoir the signal to release the water. They quickly turned the handles for five of the doors and opened the latches. The water instantly poured out creating a thunderous force that rushed down the mountainside. The violent, outpouring torrent crashed through every tree that stood in its way, carrying each entire plant in its powerful currents. The violent water was unevenly flowing down the mountain, causing some of the stream to flow towards certain territories a faster pace.

A couple of the applicants were hit with the water faster than what they had expected and were immediately eliminated. Hikaru stood in the center, as careful as possible, while watching the fast upcoming torrent getting closer and closer towards her. One of the applicants saw that the water was coming towards his territory, and instantly drew a circle in the ground. He then placed his hands over it and out in front of his was a giant clay wall. Even though the wall looked sturdy enough hold back the harsh, thrashing water, it wasn't strong enough and it broke right through, leaving another territory sunken beneath a pool of dirty water.

_He was somewhat clever._ Ed thought to himself. _He should've realized that the materials he used to make the wall weren't strong enough to hold back a rushing torrent. Just don't make the same stupid mistake, Hikaru…_

Now only two applicants were left, including Hikaru. Hikaru looked over to her left and saw the other applicant place a piece of useless metal on the dirt beneath him and drew a circle over it. He performed Alchemy over the two objects and created a small drain out of it. The rabid torrent rushed towards him and went down his drain just like he had predicted. But unexpectedly the water to just to strong for the drain to capture all at once so most of the water exceeded over the drain and crashed into his territory knock down every plant life and eliminating the other applicant from the final round.

It was only Hikaru left on the arena. If she fails to grasp victory, then no one will be passing the State Alchemist this year. The water finally rushed at her with full, immense force. Hikaru already had an idea placed in her mind and ran straight towards the fierce torrent. People in audience were shocked to see a small fifteen year-old girl run towards a violent stream of water, and several of the people were shouting at her saying that her idea was foolish or asking if she was going to throw her life away. Hikaru ignored every word they said and continue to run towards the speeding stream.

She quickly her placed her black gloves over her hands as she continued to run. Ed watched her curiously and wondered what she was up to. He then took notice of the strange symbol on Hikaru's gloves. It was somewhat almost identical to Roy's gloves, but the drawing of the seal was different. It was a silver circle with Kanji characters reading Seigen written in the middle of it. Ed couldn't read the seal on Hikaru's gloves and pondered through his mind, trying to find out what it means.

In the meantime, Hikaru was still running towards the rabid torrent. When the torrent came close to her, she then suddenly leaped into the air and clapped her hands together. She placed her hands on the water and a large blue light shined all throughout the arena. After the blinding light died down, Hikaru's territory was perfectly normal, and the violent thrashing torrent was turned into a beautiful ice formation. It was long ice formation that led up to where the reservoir was.

People were stunned by Hikaru's magnificent performance, but she didn't finish just yet. Hikaru grabbed then grabbed a large pole at the side the arena and transmuted it into a strong massive blade. She jumped on the territorial walls and ran down along the narrow platform. When she reached the edge, she instantly leaped off and swung the blade at the giant icicle a, shattering it into many beautiful shards. The glowing ice shards slowly drifted down through the air, creating a perfect and marvelously beautiful performance.

The audience went absolutely wild. Everyone was cheering crazily around Hikaru and was applauding endlessly for her. Ed jumped down from the spectator seats and instantly ran towards Hikaru. He grabbed her and held her tightly, showing how proud he was of her. Hikaru's face was red with blush, but a strange pain stabbed her chest like a spear. She tried her best to resist it and slowly wrapped her arms around Ed. He held on to Hikaru strongly giving her a feeling of gentleness and warmth. Hikaru couldn't help but let her headrest on his chest beneath his chin. Even though the pain was only stabbing her with greater force, she was trying to withstand it longer so she could remain in Ed's arms.

"You did so well today." Ed honestly commented. "I'm really proud of you."

"Th-Thank y-you, Edward…" Hikaru quietly whispered in his ear. Ed then noticed that her grip on his back began to weaken, so he let go to find out that Hikaru fell asleep due the exhaustion of the exam and her strange stabs of pain.

Ed chuckled a bit and whispered softly into her ear, even though he knew she wouldn't here him, "Go ahead and rest, Hikaru. You deserve it." He then let her rest in his arms and held her tightly close.

The judges were astonished by Hikaru's amazing performance, but the Fuhrer merely began to walk out of the stadium without a hint of amazement in his emotions. It was almost as if he was expecting her to do so well in this exam. Before he could've completely walked out, he turned around and watched Al, Ross, and Brosh run down from the spectator seats to happily congratulate Hikaru, even if she was asleep. _The time is almost close…_ The Fuhrer thought and then walked right out the coliseum.

At about the same time, Roy was in office trying to prepare transferring papers when he heard a knock on his door. He allowed the person to open the door and walk in. The person happens be a woman that looked as if she was from Xing with long ebony hair. As she walked up to Roy's desk, he suddenly realized that she seems to be an irregularly tall woman. He bent his head back to look upward at her.

"And you must be…?" The Colonel asked, staring at upward at her.

"I am Lieutenant Colonel Shia Amano from the Southern Military Headquarters, reporting for duty here, in Central."


	10. Chapter 10: Machine

The sun's rays shined a bright orange light through the thin white curtains of a small hotel room, where Hikaru slept. She had a cold, damp cloth placed on her perspiring forehead because of her tormenting dreams. Lately, Hikaru hated sleeping, due to the bloody nightmares she constantly received after her 23 strange consecutives dreams. It was like a crazy never-ending nightmare.

She slowly opened her eyes and sat up on her bed, letting the damp towel fall on to her lap. The rays of the orange sunset lightly blinded her eyes, so she placed her left arm over her them. Hikaru stared at the clock and noticed that it was about 6:00 p.m. She then looked around at the room she was in, realizing that it was a small room in the Central Military headquarters.

She heard a sudden knock on the door and immediately lied back down on the bed, placing the small, wet cloth back on forehead, and pulling the thin white blanket over her body. The door swiftly opened and Hikaru saw that it was Ed, Al, and Brosh carrying stacks of files. They hurried over to the table and placed all the files down.

Ed walked over to Hikaru, smiled at her, and kindly asked, "Hey, feeling better now, Hikaru?" Hikaru felt cheery to see Ed back again and happily nodded. He removed the damp cloth off her forehead, since he noticed that she was feeling a lot better. "You can continue resting. Al and I are going to try and decode something."

"What are you guys decoding?" Hikaru curiously wondered.

"Tim Marcoh's research journal." Al answered. "My brother and I are looking for the Philosopher's stone so we can return our bodies back to normal."

"While you were resting, we went over to the main branch, found out that the only copy was burned in the fire, and was told to go to an old employee's home. There we met the old employee named Sheska and luckily she has a photographic memory, so she was able to write down the every exact detail in the research journal." Ed finished. Hikaru walked over to the table and glanced at the notes.

"It looks like a cooking recipe to me." She mentioned.

"All Alchemists keep their research journals in disguise so other people can't look into their top secret information," Al replied. "My brother keeps his disguised in a travelogue so I can't understand it."

"And the Colonel writes his using the names of women." Ed added, making Hikaru laugh for a bit.

"Well," Hikaru started, "since I'm a pretty trained Alchemist, I can help you guys with decoding the journal."

"Sweet!" Ed shouted as Hikaru sat down at the table with them. He then handed her a small stack of paper, scratch paper, and a pen. "You can try to decipher that section. Let's see what you're capable of." She looked carefully at the documents, then grabbed the pen, and began writing down the Alchemic formulas.

About four hours later, the three young Alchemists heard the door suddenly open, and they all turned to see who walked in. It was Sergeant Brosh and Sheska.

"Sorry to walk in without knocking." Brosh apologized.

"Both the Sergeant and Second Lieutenant told me that I would be able to find you guys here." Sheska explained.

"So what do you need?" Ed asked.

"I came here to thank you for giving me enough money to transfer my mother over to an excellent hospital." She answered as she constantly bowed, showing her thanks. "I don't know how to repay you for your kindness."

"It was no sweat." He smiled. "The information we received from you is worth a lot more than whatever I gave you."

"So how's your deciphering coming along?" she wondered.

"Not so well…" Ed and Al replied in gloom while Hikaru just continued on with her work. Her scratch paper was completely filled with ridiculous amounts of numbers, equations, and formulas. Sheska looked over at Hikaru's work at deciphering and was amazed at how she worked.

Sheska then walked over to Hikaru and commented, "Seems like you're getting more progress done than Ed and Al."

Hikaru laughed softly at the comment and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Sheska." She happily greeted. "The name's Hikaru and don't get any ideas about Ed and me, please." Sheska shook her hand and giggled at the greeting.

Ed was happy to see Hikaru getting along better with everyone around her. He remembered when they first met after the battle with Scar. Hikaru never really opened herself up to a lot of people. She mostly spent her time by herself in her lonely mansion, hidden deep within Elendia. She was alone most of time and rarely ever smiled. She was always in pain somewhere, but no one was able to come to her aid. It was almost like she's slowly falling through a black abyss of emptiness. She's fallen so deep to the point where almost no light can reach out to her.

But after the time Ed and Hikaru has spent together the light seems to be shining brighter in the dark abyss, and soon Hikaru would be able to follow it through to the exit. Ed was more than happy to see her opening up to the world around her as if she were following a path created by a shining, silver light that led her towards the real world.

Ed was suddenly snapped out of his daydreaming when Hikaru asked Sheska, "By the way, what was the title of the research journal you gave to Ed and Al?"

"I think it was called 'Advanced Cooking Recipes by Tim Marcoh'," Sheska replied. "Why do you need to know about the title, though?"

Hikaru began to think back into her recent memories and suddenly something clicked. "Do you remember seeing a small notebook attached to it?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sheska answered, "but after the journal was lost for several days and when was returned, the notebook disappeared."

Hikaru walked over to the coat rack and searched her black cape for a large pocket. Inside that large pocket was a small, thin notebook. It was old and a bit torn up, but the writing on the cover was still readable. She placed the booklet on the paper-filled table for the others to look. Sheska was amazed to see that this was the small notebook that was missing from Marcoh's research journal. Even though it was a very thin, old notebook, there was a special lock that was placed on it. The lock couldn't be unlocked by a lock pick or destruction. The only way to open it was through a special Alchemy process.

"How did you get your hands on that?" Sheska asked in complete puzzlement.

"I have absolutely no idea," Hikaru answered sadly. "I woke up only a few months ago with the memories of my past completely erased."

"Do you know how to open it?" Ed and Al asked eagerly.

Hikaru laughed a bit and replied, "Sorry, I don't," Their hopes suddenly dropped as they both stared at the floor in gloom. "But I do know that the instructions on how to open this book is written in his research journal." Both Elric brothers had their spirits raised and instantly began search through the document papers.

"They sure are full of energy, aren't they?" Sheska said happily smiling.

"Of course!" Hikaru shouted happily. "Ever since I woke up with my amnesia, I would always stay secluded from people in the real world. Whenever I used to walk in public I would never once talk or respond to the people around me. The animals only hiss and growl at me as if I were a strange creature of some sort. I felt like I didn't belong in the real world, but until I met these two crazy brothers, my life pretty much changed. They made my life a lot happier and made me feel like I'm a part of this world too. They made feel like I belong and I can't thank them enough for that." Sheska was almost moved to tears from Hikaru's small story and was really happy for her.

Suddenly the peace was disturbed when Hughes cheerfully barged through the door. Ross and Brosh stepped inside apologizing for the disturbance Hughes made when he entered.

"Yo!" he loudly greeted. "Long time no see guys!"

"Yeah it's been a while now, Lieutenant Colonel!" Ed replied with a big smile.

"The Major told me that you'd be here. I told you guys to at least give me a call if you're ever in Central." Hughes wondered.

"Our apologies, sir." Al began.

"We were busy since we got here." Ed continued. "You know, the State Alchemist Exam, the thief capturing mission, returning all the missing books, and now this."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," The Lieutenant Colonel agreed. "I got so much paper work to file through that I haven't been able to leave the office. By the way how did that thief mission that Roy assigned you go?"

"Well, it seems that the culprit is in this very room." Ed said in a very creepy tone of voice.

"Did he break out of jail or something?" Hughes shouted alarmed.

"Actually the culprit's right here." Al calmly pointed to Hikaru who was sitting in a chair between him and his brother. Hikaru gave Hughes a smile, and his jaw dropped. The Elric brothers began laughing at the Lieutenant Colonel.

"Are you guys being serious with me?" Hughes asked laughing.

"She doesn't look like a criminal, does she?" Ed said as he continued to laugh hard.

"No way in hell she looks anything like one!" Hughes shouted still laughing at the joke and patted Hikaru on the head. "Judging by the way she smiles, it looks like she's really happy to be around you guys. I'd have to completely agree with her! Other than my family, you guys are greatest people to be around. Heck, you can even make the whole world feel this great!"

"Thanks, Lieutenant Colonel!" Ed and Al both happily thanked him.

"No problem." Hughes replied with a caring smile on his face. He then turned his attention towards Hikaru and held out his hand. "I've been wondering what your name might be, kid."

"The name's Hikaru." She answered as she shook his hand.

"Are you the 'Hikaru' that entered the application form for the State Alchemist Exam without a last name?" Hughes quickly asked.

"Yeah, that would have to be me," she said, curiously wondering at what the lieutenant colonel wants from her.

"I was told to give you your State Alchemist certification." He said as he gave her a large orange envelope. "Congratulations on becoming State Alchemist!"

"Thank you Lieutenant Colonel," Hikaru replied politely and opened the envelope. Inside was a large thick piece of paper that looks to be the State Alchemist certificate. Hikaru read through the certificate and wondered why the Fuhrer chose to call her the Macchina Alchemist. As Hikaru read on further, Hughes decided to bring up other important subjects.

"Damn… that fire in the First Branch really slowed us down." He said somberly. "It was close to the court martial house, so we used it to store all of records and stuff like that." The Elric brothers and Hikaru then turned their gaze from Hughes to Sheska.

"Y'know Lieutenant Colonel," Ed began, "why don't you give Sheska here a job?"

"She's got a photographic memory," Hikaru finished for him, "and must've read through the military records while she used to work at the First Branch."

Hughes' eyes lit up as he shouted, "This kid has that king of talent?!" He then quickly walked over to Sheska and grabbed her shirt collar. "The military's going to give you an awesome salary. So let's get the paperwork done right away!"

"Thank you for everything you've for me! I hope I can pay all of you back soon!" Sheska shouted as Hughes dragged her out of the room laughing like a maniac kidnapper. The Elric brothers and Hikaru couldn't help but laugh as they went back to work.

"So how do you think we can open that small notebook, Hikaru?" Al asked.

"Well, just organize the sections of the research in order for me and the rest will be self-explanatory." Hikaru explained as they all began to search through the messy pile of documents.

Meanwhile over at the Eastern headquarters a great battle has begun to unfold. It was the Battle of the Second Lieutenants: Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc versus Second Lieutenant Heymans Breda!! In what kind of game, you ask? Why, in a game of Chess, of course! The two soldiers stared at each other with angry glares in their eyes as each of them took turns making moves on the black-and-white, checkered Chessboard.

But just when Havoc was about to make his next move the door of the recreational room was suddenly blown off its hinges and crashed right into Havoc, sending him flying into the wall.

"Second Lieutenant Havoc!!" Breda, Warrant Officer Watteau Falman, and Master Seargeant Kain Fuery all shouted in unison after the crash.

"What the hell just happened?" Fuery asked as he helped the other two soldiers rescue Havoc from underneath the door that's crushing him.

"It's obvious that the door was blown right off its hinges." Falman answered, pulling Havoc out.

"You ok, man?" Breda asked in concern.

"Yeah." Havoc replied as he back on his feet. "But who the hell–!" He was suddenly cut off when an extremely tall black haired woman confronted him. She was almost as tall as him, but just about an inch or two shorter. He didn't have to look downward much to see her frightening glare.

"Please forgive the Lieutenant Colonel for her harsh actions." First Lieutenant Hawkeye said as she calmly walked in, noticing the Lieutenant Colonel and Havoc weren't getting along too well. Havoc growled at the strange woman like an angry dog, while she merely stared at him angrily. Hawkeye sighed and had the Lieutenant Colonel sit down next to her on a black double-seated couch.

"So, First Lieutenant Hawkeye, can you explain to us who she is?" Fuery asked nervously.

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Shia Amano from the Southern Headquarters." Hawkeye explained. "She was directly ordered by Colonel Mustang to escort us all to Central."

"That means we're all transferring?" Falman asked, making sure.

"That is correct." Shia replied monotonously. "If you have friends and family here, better say your good-byes now."

"NO!!!!" Havoc suddenly shouted with tears flying out his eyes like rushing waterfalls. "I JUST GOT A NICE GIRLFRIEND HERE!!!"

"Find yourself a new girlfriend in Central." Shia responded coldly without a care about Havoc's feelings.

Steams of anger exploded right out of Havoc's head as he shouted, "YOU EVIL, EVIL BITCH!!! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE AGAINST ME?!!"

"Nothing." She calmly replied. "I really hate this pointless job. I can't understand why the Colonel would want to bring imbeciles like you four twits over to Central with him."

"I SWEAR I WILL HAVE YOU DEAD LIEUTENANT COLONEL…" Havoc threatened.

"I'd like to see you try it," Shia argued back and then shouted, "All right! Now, let's get going, dumbasses!" She then walked out of the room with Hawkeye, an extremely enraged Havoc, and the other frightened men following her."

The large clock tower of Central city rung it's bell five consecutive times as its hands read 5:00 p.m. Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh were both required to check up on the Elric brothers and Hikaru at this hour. When they were about to reach the hotel room, they heard a sudden loud slam, which made both of the military soldiers jump. Brosh quickly opened the door as Ross rushed in, but was blown back by a loud yell.

"WHAT THE F?!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS CAN'T BE!!!" Ed suddenly shouted startling both Brosh and Ross. The two military officers walked carefully into the hotel room and noticed Ed's chair knocked on to the floor with paper scattered all around it.

"What the hell happened, Edward?" Ross asked in concern.

"We were able to decipher the code," Al answered for his brother.

"Then that's good!" Brosh replied happily.

"What the hell is good about it, dammit?!" Ed shouted at Brosh. "It's like the work of the devil!"

The two officers were perplexed about this, so Hikaru explained for them, "The main ingredient of the Philosopher's Stone is a living human being." Both Brosh and Ross were stunned. They couldn't believe something like this could've existed, even worse, conducted by the military. "But to create an actual stone numerous lives would have to be sacrificed."

"I can't imagine the military conducting something like this beneath our noses." Brosh shouted angrily.

"This can't go unpunished!" Ross added in.

"To make matters worse," Hikaru continued explaining, "the military created a demonic-like being or machine that can create the stone by absorbing the life of the humans it kills. The reason why Dr. Marcoh quit the military force was because he witnessed this killer machine in action. It was too brutal for his eyes to bear. We were only able to decipher a partial amount of the small notebook that contained information about it, but we've come to know that it's known as Tsubasa, the Silver Wings of Ultimate Life…" 


	11. Chapter 11: Invasion

Chapter 11: Invasion 

The sky above darkened, as the bright day became a dreary night. Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh were both worried about Hikaru and the Elric brothers. Ever since they were able to decipher Dr. Tim Marcoh's research journal, they haven't left their hotel room and ate nothing all that day. Major Armstrong began to wonder himself to what they were up to.

There was nothing, but silence in the Elric brother's room. Al was sitting silently rereading through the research journal, Hikaru continued to work on decoding the small notebook that Marcoh wrote about his experience with Tsubasa, while Ed quietly stared at the ceiling, drifting off into his own universe. He was tired, weary, and all from the continuous hours of going through the research journal, only to find that the Philosopher's Stone, the only possible way to return him and his brother back to normal, was to sacrifice living humans.

As Hikaru was carefully looking through the notebook, she constantly diverted her attention from it towards Ed. She began to wonder what would happen if she showed him what she had recently decoded. She then soon broke the silence of the room.

"I have more information on Tsubasa, Ed." She said, hoping that he wasn't too exhausted from a whole day of work. His attention and interest was soon captured. He crawled off his couch and sat on the floor next to Hikaru and Al.

"Marcoh mentions that he met Tsubasa about a few years before you became a State Alchemist." She continued. "It was during the Ishbalan War, when the military first tested the abilities of Tsubasa. Many officers were flabbergasted at the sight of it in action and the rest were completely scared to death. Since it was only the first test, Tsubasa strangely went berserk and mindlessly killed off our own officers as well. Nothing could stand in its way. It was the military's most ultimate weapon of destruction. Marcoh was trying to flee the scene when large piles of debris collapsed above him. He thought that he had met his doom, until someone removed the rubble off him. Staring out into the light of the dusty battlefield, he saw what he believed to be a childlike angel. He thought this was his way to heaven, until he snapped back into reality. When he climbed out of the debris, he screamed out in terror. The angel that rescued him was Tsubasa. He was terrified to see that the machine of death was only a mere child with silver mechanical wings. Marcoh couldn't stand the cruelty of the military any longer and went AWOL."

Ed was once again stunned at the information. He never expected the military to be as cruel enough to use an innocent child as their ultimate weapon. Ed could imagine the years of torture that poor child had to go through to become a berserk, mindless killing machine, like Tsubasa. How could the military do such a thing?

"Did it say how old the child was?" Al asked Hikaru. She flipped through her decoded pages of notes again, looking for his answer.

"He described that the child looked about nine years old at most. Most likely the same age as Ed was during the Ishbalan War." She calmly replied when something suddenly clicked in her head. She quickly grabbed Ed and ran out the door.

"Where are you going, Hikaru?" Al asked curiously.

"I need to talk with your brother privately." She answered. "It's urgent, so I don't want you to eavesdrop this time." She then kicked the door shut and rushed to an empty, private room next door. Judging by her serious tone of voice, Al assumed that it must actually be very urgent.

In the next room Ed began to stare into Hikaru's bright, yet gloomy-looking crimson eyes and wonder why she had dragged him into another room. He was already tired from the excessive work. What more could happen now?

"This is really important Ed." She said. "Can you remember anything from 3-4 years before you became a State Alchemist?"

"Not really." He replied after some thought. Then something instantly clicked in his mind. "Are you suggesting that I may be Tsubasa?!"

"For now we can only assume."

"What makes you believe that I can possibly be Tsubasa?"

Hikaru flipped through Dr. Marcoh's notebook again to the page where he mentioned that Tsubasa had silver wings and then asked, "Do you remember that I have the ability to see 'wings'?"

"Yeah." Ed answered and then began to ask her his own stack of questions. "You said mine were silver, right?"

"That's correct. I can see them clearly right at this moment."

"Can you see anyone else's 'wings'? What about my brother?"

"I can't see his, since he doesn't possess a human body."

"Then what about others, like the Colonel?"

"His wings are white. It shows that he has a really kind heart and will do anything for the people he truly cares for. I think white is probably the color of 'wings' that represent the essence of being a guardian or protector. But that's in my eyes, of course."

"Then what's silver?"

"Well…" Hikaru took a moment to think. "The thing is… the color silver doesn't exist anywhere else. Every human should have a color from a regular Artistic Color Wheel, like red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple, as well as the two types of tints, black and white. Judging from my memory there shouldn't be any metallic colored 'wings', such as gold and silver."

This puzzled both the two young alchemists, but using Hikaru's enigmatic ability to see the "wings" of humans was possibly Ed's only way to figure out if he were actually Tsubasa, the military's ultimate weapon of destruction, or not. Ed was sure that the only parts of himself that were mechanical are his right arm and left leg; however with Hikaru mysteriously appearing in his life, he was sure that there has to be an explanation for the bizarre 3-4 year memory gap he had. He needed to prove that he isn't Tsubasa and never fought in the Isbalan War, as well as kill every human in sight. As Ed began to think more deeply into this subject, he and Hikaru headed back to the previous room they were in.

As they slowly walked down the hallway, Hikaru noticed how Ed was thinking far too much and looked completely exhausted. "Did I happen to trouble you more?" she asked.

"Not really." He quietly responded, which was usually atypical of him. "I think I could possibly use your extraordinary ability to help us in our quest for the Philosopher's Stone."

"Just get some rest first, Ed. You don't really look to well."

"I guess you're right, Hikaru. Too much information was poured all at once in my head today. Might as well take it easy before we make our next move."

------

Just outside on the hotel rooftop stood the two homunculi, who were staring out into the ominous night sky. Gluttony arrived and greeted them, "Lust. Envy. I have news directly from Pride."

"Anything on Tsubasa?" Envy immediately brought up.

"Pride only informed us to wait for a bit. The Awakening is coming more quickly than expected."

"Did you eat any humans on the way to the Exam?" Lust curiously asked.

"No." Gluttony answered solemnly.

"There, there" Lust comforted him and patted his bald head. "There will be chances for you to eat something next time."

"Speaking of 'next time'," Envy interrupted, "I believe our next destination is Laboratory No. 5."

--------

Finally, Ed was able gain the rest he needed from a long day's work; however his little break didn't last much longer. Ed, Al, and Hikaru all turned their heads as fast as lighting towards the door when they heard a thunderous voice bursting from outside in the hallway.

"ELRIC BROTHERS!! OPEN THIS DOOR IMMEDIATELY!! IT IS I!!"

"Oh no! It's Major Armstrong! What do we do now, brother?" Al quietly cried.

"The door's locked, so maybe if we ignore him, it'll be like we're not here." Ed suggested.

"I don't think that's going to work." Hikaru mentioned.

"What makes you so sure?" both brothers whimpered in fear.

She pointed her finger to the doorway, and in a second, the door was forced through with the Major still hanging on to the torn-off doorknob with pieces of wood and screws falling from it. Ed and Al shrieked at the sight of him, while Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh stood behind the Major looking as if they couldn't control him from gaining entrance.

"Greetings Major Armstrong." Hikaru said calmly with a smile.

"Why, hello there, Miss Hikaru." Armstrong blissfully greeted. "How are you today?"

"Oh, I'm just fine."

"Not us…" Ed and Al whined.

"OH, SUCH A TRAGEDY!!" Armstrong cried when he noticed the Elric brothers. "To find out the terrible secret of the Philosopher's Stone! As well as the hellish secret the military has been keeping from us! I cannot stand aside and watch this calamity unfold! The truth can be so cruel!!" Something suddenly clicked in both Hikaru and Ed's minds. "'The truth lies within the truth.'" Hikaru quoted from Dr. Marcoh's research journal. 

"That means that there must be something more." Ed stated. "Sergeant Brosh, do you have to map of Central City?"

"Yeah. I have it right here." Brosh hurried over and spread open the entire map on the table.

"The military has four active Alchemic research labs. Dr. Marcoh worked at the third one." The Major explained.

"I recently visited the third lab, so I'm sure there wasn't anything weird going on in there." Ed mentioned.

"What's with the red 'X' over here?" Hikaru curiously asked and pointed to a large building next to the Central Prison with a semi-transparent red "X".

"That's Laboratory No. 5." Ross clarified. "It was shut down during the Ishbalan War due to its collapse. That's why the building's off-limits at this point."

"How did that happen?" Al asked.

"I remember during the War when the military needed the aid of its ultimate weapon, Tsubasa. I never saw what the weapon looked like, but it was always described to me that it had the body of a child resembling cherubic angel. Besides that, after Tsubasa was called out, the Fuhrer was informed that the Lab 5 suddenly collapsed when Tsubasa exited the facility like a rising rocket." The Major explained, recalling memories of the dreaded war he hopes to never take part of again.

"Then that'll be our next destination." Ed confirmed strongly.

"What makes you so sure, brother?" Al wondered.

"There's a prison right next to it and the military could simply use the prisoners as ingredients in creating the Philosopher's Stone. I'm guessing, they pretend to execute the prisoners, and since their bodies aren't returned to their families, they're probably given to Tsubasa to create the Stone."

"That's sickening." Ross said with a disgusted look on her face.

"I think we got too far involved into this mess." Brosh remarked.

"This is why it's a good idea to forget everything you heard." Al replied.

"What Alphonse said is a good idea." Armstrong supported. "It's best for you and Second Lieutenant Ross to not mention a word of this to anyone." He then turned towards the Elric brothers. "Since this situation is far too dangerous, I'll have to investigate it on my own and I promise to report back whenever I get more info. I really would suggest not getting involved in this, Elric brothers. I've witnessed Tsubasa's strength and it's something beyond extraordinary. An Ishbalan soldier was completely dismembered right before my eyes. I hate recalling this memory, but I can remember blood rushing down on me like rain. I was soon completely covered in a darkish-red color, and after the bloody downpour, I was pelted by the shredded limbs of the human Tsubasa had killed."

"That's completely disgusting." Both Brosh and Ross commented simultaneously. Ed and his brother were completely speechless, while Hikaru remained silent just like she did in the entire conversation. She believed that this whole matter was none of her business and didn't want to really become a part of it, but if it's to help Ed, then she may have to get a little involved.

Hikaru walked off to the bathroom, while Armstrong continued to explain the dangers of their current situation, including the fact that Scar is still on the loose, and telling the Elric brothers to stay put at this moment. She closed the door gently and swiftly flicked on the bathroom lights. With the facet turned on, she began to wash her face and then looked directly into the mirror. This time her reflection didn't talk to her. She knew that, she freed it and gave it a body. Now that body is roaming around somewhere, and the only information it left for Hikaru was that its name was L. With L no longer lingering in her reflection, Hikaru can clearly see her true parallel image. She was surprised to see that she resembled L. L looked just like a mirror image of her. They had the same face structure, body, hairstyle, and hair color. She only sees slight variations, which are the crimson eyes, small height difference, and L's eyes were a bit more upward slanted.

A sudden shock came when, Hikaru looked more carefully at her reflection. She was absolutely stunned to see that there were no 'wings' on her back. Hikaru knows for herself that she can still see the 'wings' of a human through that human's parallel image. Then why can't she see hers? She's human, for certain. Then how why is it that there was nothing on her back?

She walked back out and noticed that Armstrong, Brosh, and Ross have all left the room. The only people remaining are Ed, Al, and Hikaru.

"What did Armstrong tell you?" Hikaru asked, trying to change the subject in her head.

"He told us to stay put until he reports back." Al answered.

"Y'know, I can tell that you guys are up to something." She smirked at the brothers.

Ed returned that smirk and said, "Don't smirk at us like that. You look too much like the Colonel."

Hikaru simply laughed at his remark and opened the window of the hotel room. "I know what you guys want, don't I?"

"Yup! You can perfectly read our minds."

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Hikaru said as she hastily jumped backwards out the window. Both Elric brothers were surprised to see her antics once again. Without further ado, they, too, leaped out the window. However, since the hotel was from a much higher height, both Ed and Al came crashing to the ground. While Hikaru watched their fall from the streetlight she gracefully landed on. She jumped down to check if they were ok. It seems that Al made it out just fine since he was a suit of armor, but unfortunately, Ed didn't. He came fell through the air and collided into the ground with his head.

"Ow, my brain…" Ed groaned rubbing the pain on his head.

"Sorry Ed." Hikaru apologized. "Maybe I should've tied a rope for you guys." She placed her hand on his head and leaned her face close to his to ensure that his face wasn't damaged from the fall. Ed's face became completely covered red, as he got more nervous every time he could feel her breath smoothly brushed against his face. To inspect that he was ok, Hikaru had to climb on top of his body, which made the Fullmetal Alchemist more alarmed as ever. Never before in his life, he had a woman on top of him. Of course, a situation like this would make him even more tense. He began to cry when he felt her bare legs slide up the sides of his abdomen. The night was warm, so Hikaru would dress in her typical black shorts. The longer this torture lasted, the more Ed wanted to cry. He hoped that there was one kind soul out there that would save him.

"Are you like some kind of ninja?" Al curiously asked out of the blue.

"I don't know." Hikaru said as she did a back flip into the air, bounced off the brick wall, and then perched perfectly on Al's head. "Does that define the word 'ninja' or something?"

"If you can easily do tricks like that, then you must be a ninja! I can't believe I get to see a real, live ninja! I only heard about them in storybooks! To know that ninjas actually exist, makes me the happiest boy in the world! Maybe I should ask my brother to marry you, so then I can have a big sister that's a ninja. That'll be so cool!"

"What?!" Hikaru exclaimed. Then she and Al suddenly heard something hit the ground from behind them. It was Ed holding tightly on to crotch, sweating in pain. Hikaru rushed over to him and asked, "Ed, what's wrong?"

"Ack!" He shouted as he fell to the ground in more pain. "Please don't come near me, Hikaru. That'll just make the pain even worse."

"Um, ok. I'm really sorry if this is all my fault." she quickly apologized.

"It's not your fault. This is my first time having this pain."

"What kind of pain is he in?" Hikaru asked Al.

"Uh… how to explain it…?" Al questioned himself and thought hard. _Oh why me?_ He thought. "You know about male puberty right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. That'll save me some time. Let's just say my big brother is… uh… having an erecting genital at this moment. He must have experienced something erotic in his mind."

"He should be back to normal soon."

"Oh dear god. That was so hard to explain without completely polluting her mind." Al mumbled quietly to himself.

"Let's not waste anymore time and get moving." Hikaru confirmed after she watched Al help his older brother up on his feet. She then leaped on to the rooftop and began to jump from roof to roof so no nothing can notice her. While the Elric brothers swiftly ran through the streets silently as possible.

As they were running Al quietly asked, "Brother, why did you have to have an erection at a time like this?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Ed whispered as different shades of red flashed across his face. "Even though Hikaru wanted to check if I was ok, she didn't have to get on top of me and breathe on my face."

"Just admit it, brother… you can be a bit perverted a certain moments."

"I am not a pervert!"

"Then explain the erection you just had."

"That was completely accidental!"

"Sure… I believe you…" Al sarcastically said and quietly chuckled at his brother who, at the moment, looks like a red tomato. Ed was completely embarrassed of what happened to him. He never meant for it to happen, especially in front of a girl with an innocent mind.

"By the way, thanks for saving me Al." Ed thanked. "If you didn't bring up the ninja conversation I would've been dead on the ground."

"Huh?" Al questioned. "I never meant to save you brother. I was actually wondering if she was ninja."

Ed merely laughed at his brother's answer as the two brothers tried to catch up to Hikaru who was jumping on rooftops at brisk speed. They finally came to the destroyed area of Laboratory No. 5, and the strangest thing the young alchemists noticed was the fact that there was guard standing in front of an abandoned building.

"The light from a transmutation may alert the guard so we'll have to find another way in." Ed stated as he looked up at the barbed-wire barrier.

"Leave that to me." Hikaru declared. She jumped down from the rooftop and told Ed to move aside about 5 feet. Swiftly and silently she slid underneath Al and launched him into the air like rocket, with a simple palm uppercut. Al was frightened by the sudden blast-off that sent him skyrocketing into the night sky and Ed was freaked out for his brother's safety.

"Hikaru, you really are a ninja!" Ed faintly exclaimed.

"It's just martial arts," she laughed as she placed Ed's arms around her making the elder Elric brother turn scarlet. "Hang on tight, Ed." Hikaru first leaped backwards on to the roof of a nearby building. Then she soared into the sky like an eagle, making Ed completely amazed at her ability. While in midair, she grabbed on to Al's left leg, and then tried to ease their landing. Before they hit the flat roof of the abandoned laboratory, Hikaru pushed the armor upward into the air a bit more to delay his landing. When she hit the roof herself, the crimson-eyed alchemist did a quick spinning sweep kick, slightly increasing the upward air pressure around her and Ed, who was a bit dizzy from the spin. With the increase in air pressure going up into the sky, Al was able to get a calm landing, without making a sound. The spinning sweep kick of hers was almost like her palm uppercut. Hikaru used both moves to increase upward air pressure, since it was a silent tactic and not usually seen by human eyes.

"You can let go now, Ed." Hikaru said, but was surprised to see him passed out with his arms still around her neck.

"He must've passed out from the dizziness your spin kick resulted in." Al clarified as he pulled his brother off Hikaru. He then faintly knocked Ed on his noggin, and that was able to wake the older brother up. Ed snapped back to reality and was still stunned at Hikaru's marvelous combating skills.

"I think you may be right about her being her being a ninja." Ed whispered loudly to Al.

"It's just martial arts." Hikaru repeated. "Don't you two practice fighting skills also?"

"Yeah," Al answered, "that was with our teacher. She said that if you want to train the mind you must train the body first."

"If the both of you practiced martial arts before, then why is that you two consider me to be ninja?"

"Ninjas can jump from roof-to-roof with perfect grace." Ed gave one reason.

"They move at lightning speed." Al added.

"And they're usually dressed in dark colors so they can avoid being caught on assassination missions." The two Elric brothers said simultaneously. "You fall into all three of those categories."

Hikaru merely laughed at them. How can she ever forget how happy these two make her? Even if they were on a secret invasion into Lab 5, she was still able to enjoy her time with them. No matter where they went, Ed and Al would always lighten up her mood. In spite of all the secrets and problems they have to face, Hikaru remained happy with the Elric brothers.

"Jumping on roofs was just an exercise routine I practiced." Hikaru explained. "It helps build the length of your jumps, as well as reaction time and agility. I don't have lightning speed. I can move pretty quickly from all the martial arts training, but it looks like lightning to the untrained eye. And for the black clothes I'm wearing, it's just my sense of style, I guess. I'm no where near gothic, but maybe I like these clothes since it's useful for infiltration and they're easy to maneuver around in. Does that give you guys enough information as to why I am not a ninja?"

"That explains a lot of things." Ed remarked and smirked. "But we'll come up with other reasons soon."

"Whatever." She smiled and thought. _I think this is going to be my new pet peeve._

Hikaru found a long rope lying around the roof and tied it tightly on to some pipes. She tossed it down and the Elric brothers were able to climb down without any more casualties. She then jumped off the roof herself and flawlessly landed besides them.

"Man…" Ed groaned. "Even the entrance is blocked."

"We'll just have to find another way in." Al suggested.

"Ed can probably fit through that." Hikaru stated as she pointed her finger at a broken ventilator hole. Using Al as a boost, Ed pulled off its wired cover, and climbed in.

"Al, It's best for you to wait here." Ed confirmed.

"You sure you want to go in there alone, brother?" Al asked, worried for his older brother's safety.

"What choice do I have? Your body's too big to fit in here."

"It's not my fault I got big."

"Hikaru, you should be able to fit in here." Ed affirmed.

"Is it ok for me to leave Al here by himself?" Hikaru asked in concern for Al.

"Don't worry too much about him. He'll be just fine."

"Yeah, I'm a suit of armor, so I can't really feel pain." Al added.

"Alright then," Hikaru said. "I'll go with Ed then."

The two young alchemists climbed into the small ventilator and crawled their way through the tight walls into the laboratory. However, Ed happened to be in an uncomfortable situation again.

_Maybe I should've gone in first._ Ed regretted since he was crawling right behind Hikaru, meaning that he's going to have to stare at her bottom through the whole duration of their infiltration. He wanted to close his eyes, but he had to keep an eye out to see their progress.

"Hikaru, can we please trade places?" Ed begged as he tried to cover his absolutely red face.

"Yeah," Hikaru agreed. "If you like being in the front, then be my guest."

"Thank you, Hikaru." Ed cried, finally relieved to see that she agreed to help him move from his unnerving circumstance.

"However, you'll have to climb over me to get in front, since the space is tight. But I'm smaller than you, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you." She explained and tried to lied down as flat as possible.

_Why do these things always happen to me?_ Ed questioned the world in his thoughts as his face became even more scarlet. Despite the tight space, Ed was able to climb over Hikaru. _This doesn't feel right. Any perverted guy would be happy in my position._ When he finally got in front, he collapsed with his head overheating from all his blushing.

"You alright, Ed?" Hikaru asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine now." He said as he got back up. "Let's just keep moving forward."

She nodded and followed his lead. When Ed turned at a corner, Hikaru stopped when she noticed a dent on the floor of their tight pathway. She wondered why Ed didn't fall through it since it was pretty loose and then thought that it was probably already like that before he crawled over it. He probably just made it in an even worse condition. When she leaned on the dent on the floor, she instantly fell through. Although she crashed through the flooring, Ed didn't hear a single sound. He finally noticed that Hikaru was missing when he finally found another ventilation cover and turned around to tell her that they finally made it to their destination. The Fullmetal Alchemist was in shock to see that his comrade had disappeared so suddenly.

Hikaru happened to have fallen into a small, dark room with a few dim lights hanging from the ceiling, just enough to moderately illuminate the room. She got on her feet and dusted the debris off her black clothes. The room had broken wires, fallen rock, and other rubbish lying around all over. The Macchina Alchemist took a look at what was in front of her. It was an old, dusty stretcher cart that surgeons use to perform operations on their patients. Usually they were pure white and were always clean. However this one is covered in ruins, wheels broken like a car tire with a nail stabbed within it, and the surface where the patient would always lay was almost completely covered with brown, dried, old blood. The blood on the stretcher seems to be at least 5-7 years old.

She walked over to the tainted stretcher cart and like lightning, a jolt of pain attacked Hikaru's chest. Feeling the old blood gave her an even worse pain. The enigmatic twinge in her chest continued to attack her repetitively, thus making her fall to the floor on her knees, entirely broken. She began to cough up her own blood. As a small stream of blood oozed from the side of her mouth, she looked up at the giant steel wall in front of her. There was a massive transcript written clearly, beckoning Hikaru to have a look. And with one glance she was stunned at the sight of it and fell to the ground again. This time she fell on her entire front body like a fallen statue. Blood continued to flow slowly from her jaws as she got on her grimy knees. Sitting in her own lake of blood Hikaru stared at the transcript again, fighting off the pain, and asked herself.

"Where am I?"


	12. Chapter 12: Reunion

Chapter 12: Reunion

Hikaru gazed at the transcript written on the steel wall before her. She struggled to get back on her feet, but managed and slowly limped her way closer to wall. Even with all the debris covering most of it, the transcript could still be read at a closer glance. There was an image at the center of a scientific diagram of a small human child with its arms fully spread outward. A thin circle perfectly surrounded the child, matching every tip that was outwardly exposed. Numbers, variables, and long chains of equations seemed to take up most of the area. Behind the child, were two immensely large, mechanical wings. There were many equations and instructions of how to construct the wings. Most of it was related to using Alchemy to create the most ultimate fighting machine of this era.

Hikaru brushed off dust from one of the corners, and there appears to be a small message written at the bottom. It read:

**"Lord, have mercy **

**On my soul. I **

**Vow never to kill again, **

**Even if you have to **

**Cut off every limb of my body. **

**And if I have mentally and physically lost all control, I suddenly have the **

**Need for bloodshed. **

**Killing was what **

**I was created for. That was what my **

**Life was all about. But I never want to kill again. **

**Living like this, pains **

**Me so much. I'm so sorry for **

**Everything I did. Please find it in your heart to forgive me. I'm so sorry..." **

Hikaru placed her hands on the writing and began to analyze it, when suddenly the wall from the side exploded. Rocks flew in every direction, so she had to quickly duck for cover. When the smoke finally cleared, a girl about Hikaru's height and age came running in. Behind the girl was a samurai suit of armor chasing after her, trying to decapitate her for trespassing in Laboratory 5. With her pain disappearing, Hikaru quickly went to the girl's aid and gave her foe a few jabs and kicks in the torso. That way she can create a distraction, and the helpless girl could just run for her life. However, she remained. It made Hikaru wonder why she hadn't fled yet. Did she want to stay to see if Hikaru survived? Or was it of another reason?

The girl hastily ran behind the armored samurai, who was still fighting with Hikaru. She pulled out a small piece of white chalk and drew a quick transmutation circle on a large chunk of rock. And right out of the white circle a huge stone spike ejected and struck her enemy straight through his back and right through the center of his chest. Hikaru was surprised that this defenseless girl actually knew how to protect herself, as well as aid her in combat. But she was also stunned to see that the armor she fought felt empty inside just like Al.

"There's no time for me to be wasting on you kids." Their foe spoke. "There are more dangerous intruders that lurk in the darkness of this hellhole. Forget everything you've seen here and be gone!" He then took off through the blasted hole, leaving Hikaru and the young girl confused for a moment. Hikaru wondered why an abandoned lab would need guards like him. Why did he spare them in the end? And as she was exchanging jabs and kicks, the armor felt hollow when struck. But the most important question is who is the girl that stands in front of her. She had violet-blue colored hair and lavender eyes. She was holding on tightly to a large Alchemy book. It seems that she may be only a beginner in Alchemy.

"Who are you?" Hikaru finally asked.

"My name is Luna." She softly answered. "And who might you be?"

"The name's Hikaru. You did pretty well for novice Alchemist."

"Oh, thank you…"

Hikaru could tell by how frail Luna speaks towards her, shows that she's unconfident about herself and wasn't used to being strong. It seems that she didn't even want to be here, but was forced to come. Who can blame her? Laboratory 5 isn't the world's happiest place. Matter of fact it was filled with the ominous scent of death lurking about. She always kept that thick Alchemy book close to her chest, probably for a quick access in case of danger.

"Why are you here?" Hikaru asked in concern.

"I was instructed to come here and-" Luna began, but a sudden voice quickly cut her off.

"Don't say another word, Luna."

Hikaru and Luna turned towards the blasted hole and there stood a young woman in her twenties with thick glasses and long, beautiful dark green hair. She wore a gorgeous forest green kimono and wielded a giant bamboo umbrella.

"I don't want you to be leaking information about our organization to strangers." the woman finished and took a closer look at Hikaru. _She looks like the girl Ayumi described that has the possibility of being Tsubasa. I have to admit she is rather odd. No one possesses crimson eyes, and the closest are the Ishbalans, but even they do not have crimson. She is one to keep an eye on._ She thought.

"I'm sorry, Midori." Luna apologized. "It won't happen again."

"Good." Midori replied and stared at Hikaru straight in the eye. "I have to thank you for saving my comrade, however. Maybe I can lend you something." She then tossed a small folded Japanese iron fan over to Hikaru. "Use it wisely. Trust me it's a really useful weapon." She then towards Luna and asked, "Did you record all the useful information about Tsubasa in here?"

"Yup. All recorded and complete." Luna answered as a flashing light came from her crescent moon necklace. It was if her necklace acts as a camera.

"Good, then let's go." But before they actually left, Midori turned around and faced Hikaru again. "By the way, have you ever seen a man who went by the name Scar?"

"I faced him in battle once." Hikaru honestly replied. "There was transmutation symbol written all over his right arm. Is that the man you're looking for?"

"That is correct. Rather unique fellow, I might add."

"I haven't seen him recently, but I can tell you this. I last spotted him in Central and the military is on the hunt for him, since he's been killing off their State Alchemists."

"That's plenty of information for me. Now what is your name?"

"It's Hikaru."

"Hikaru, huh. I'll be sure to never forget that. Thank you for what you have done and take care."

Soon Midori and Luna quickly left the scene and Hikaru was left alone in the room, thinking of her next maneuver. It was best for her to regroup with Ed, so they can finally leave this dreary, ominous place. Before she left the room, Hikaru wrote down everything that was written on the giant transcript on the wall, and even drew out all the diagrams. She then took off to find Ed.

A sudden nervous feeling struck Hikaru. It was something that made her feel uneasy, but caused her to rush towards Ed in a much faster pace. She knows from her instincts that he might be in serious danger, and needs her aid. But the black-haired alchemist was also concerned about the younger Elric brother. She hopes that he can manage himself outside with the guards discovering the invasion.

At that point Ed was clashing blades with the same samurai armor Hikaru and Luna fought. The samurai consistently swung his thin blade at the young alchemist with swift speed, but Ed managed to avoid every swing. This time the samurai's sword managed to pierce into Ed's right arm and slammed him into the floor. The armor twisted his blade and dislodged a screw in Ed's mechanical arm. It was difficult to force out, but it managed to leave his entire arm disjointed, making the alchemist go on the defensive. With his right arm immobilized, Ed's ability to dodge the speedy blade wings became a much more difficult task to do. He quickly ran as fast as he could to avoid the attacks but accidentally tripped over old debris and fell to ground near an illuminated wall. Again, the young alchemist was at the mercy of his foe, just like in the battle he had with Scar. However, this time he can't guarantee that Hikaru would come here and save him. But he also doesn't want to depend on his mysterious new friend for every tight situation. He had to think fast, even if most of his body has grown weary from battle. The samurai swung his blade and struck Ed at the left side of his stomach. Blood splattered on the illuminated wall and it seemed that the armor landed a clean on Ed. But the young alchemist managed to evade from a deathblow by quickly rolling off to the side, even if it did strike him in his sides. This time Ed was almost out of energy and feeling a bit dizzy from his hemorrhage. There was nothing for him to do. He was helpless and facing death in the face. The samurai took his blade and prepared for a final blow and then swung his blade at rapid speed. Ed quickly shut his eye, ready for the pain to strike him or for someone to come to his aid.

As the blade was speed towards the alchemist, the samurai knew that this battle was his. But suddenly his blade was blocked by tiny, blunt weapon carried by small, dark figure. The samurai quickly figured out that the blunt weapon was a sturdy iron fan called Tessen. Its wielder hastily swung the Tessen beneath the blade and used it to knock to sword forward, causing the samurai to lose his balance. The figure then swiftly came behind him and pinned him down against the floor with his helmet rolling off towards Ed. Ed finally managed to open his eyes and saw that he was no longer in danger and the figure who saved him was sitting on the back of the armored samurai, who was helplessly pinned to the ground. The old fading light shone over the dark figure and Ed was so happy to see who saved his life. The Tessen wielder was none other than Hikaru. She looked over at Ed with a caring smile to show that she'll always be there for him in any tight situation.

Placing their minds back to the battle, Ed suddenly noticed that there was no head on the armored samurai. However neither were that surprised by the headless warrior as he had hoped.

"Why are you both not surprised to see that there is no body inside this armor?" the samurai asks.

"To make it simple," Hikaru explained, as she walked off the motionless body and held up the helmet, "Ed spars with someone who is just like you, so he should know the feel. For me being a good friend of them, I also happen to know what fighting a moving, empty armor feels like."

Ed notices a crimson blood rune inside the helmet and said, "It makes me sick to see that another idiot would a bind a soul into a suit of armor, like me.

"Then allow me to explain more about myself," the warrior spoke, "I was No. 48 on Death Row, but when I still had a flesh, human body, I was a killer known as Slicer. The military wanted to execute me a couple years ago, but figured that they needed my strength and did experiments on me. Soon I became their guard dog and was instructed to protect this place from intruders, along with another Death Row inmate whose soul was also sealed into a suit of armor. He's probably fighting another intruder outside this facility."

"Hikaru has the advantage of you." Ed remarked. "Tell us more about the Philosopher's Stone."

"Never." Slicer laughed.

"Cut it with the tough guy act. You're in no position to argue."

"That's what you think. There isn't just one Slicer."

Suddenly Slicer's body got back up on its feet and crept up behind Hikaru. Ed shouted her name, warning her about the headless body. The body hurried in for a stab, but with Ed's warning Hikaru managed to avoid a direct hit with a huge cut on her left side. Blood splashed onto the blade, as Slicer began to cackle.

"I forgot to mention that when the military caught Slicer they never expected that the killings were done by two brothers." The head continued to laugh. "So we're two souls in one armor."

"The head and the body are separate. You lousy cheat." Ed argued.

"All's fair in the fight to death. Besides, you seem to have brought in an ally in our previous match. It's only fair if it's two-against-two, right?"

Ed noticed that Hikaru's wound was actually worse than his, but he was badly injured in other places than his left side, as well as his arm being disjointed. Hikaru still had her hand over her gushing wound, trying to slow the bleeding.

"Hikaru, are you okay?" Ed looked at her with concern.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." she answered. "You should be more concerned about your wounds. You're bleeding from multiple places, especially your head and your stomach."

"I feel really useless to you. I'm terribly injured, but I also disjointed the auto-mail arm you made for me."

"That's all right. I can always make a new one."

Ed was relieved and surprised that Hikaru was nothing like his mechanic over in his hometown, Resembool. If Ed were to break one tiny bit of his auto-mail, she would be smashing a wrench down on his head. So it was no surprise that Ed would be shocked at Hikaru's forgiving manner.

"Before we begin round two," the body said, " I must show you where my blood rune is, since you happened to discover my older brother's. If you want to destroy me, I would suggest for you to aim well."

"Ed, stay down." Hikaru instructed, "You're too injured to continue fighting."

"You planning to take him on by yourself, with a badly bleeding would like that?" Ed questioned.

"Pretty much. I'll be fine."

The younger Slicer brother swiftly ran at Hikaru with his blade, ready to carve it right into her torso. She quickly got out her Tessen, ducked down a bit, and used it to block the weapon. But he wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice. He knows that she plans to throw off his balance with his own strength and then pin him to the ground. This time he let Hikaru follow the same maneuver to lead her into believing that she'll have the advantage. But instead Hikaru's true plan was to flip him over using her Tessen. The younger brother quickly caught sight of this and was forced to do a quick jab in her stomach with the handle of his weapon. However, that quick jab only worsened Hikaru's wound. She fell to the floor close to Ed, as she tightly gripped her left side in pain.

"Hikaru, do you still have any energy left in you?" Ed asked while he held her up with his left arm.

"Maybe." She answered. "What's your plan?"

"Follow my lead."

The younger Slicer noticed Ed and Hikaru both clapped their hands doing a transmutation, so he quickly hurried over, trying to stop them. He couldn't let them do one, or else he'd a toast. The armor charged with his blade pointing directly at them, ready for the kill. However the first handclap was nothing more than a mere trick. Hikaru put Ed's dislocated, auto-mail arm around her and leaned over to where both her right hand was at the same level with Ed's left. The two quickly slam their hands together and unleashed an immensely powerful transmutation. A light fired from both their hands, as it shot, like a cannon, straight through the armored body. The light collided into the wall on the other side of the room, causing a heavy amount of debris to fall.

Ed and Hikaru fell to the ground, both exhausted from the whole battle. The younger Slicer cried from his body being split in half and also from the fact that he and his brother lost the match.

"You guys better not say that you're actually three brothers." Ed remarked.

"No, no," The older Slicer brother laughed. "This time you two really won. I'm impressed. Well done."

"So now tell me what I wanted to know before we started this whole battle. Tell me everything you know, about this place, about the Philosopher's Stone, and about Tsubasa."

"We Slicer Brothers are only mere guardians of the wretched place. We probably would know nothing of what you seek for. Hurry up and destroy us and this lab."

"I can't kill you two. You both are still human, even without a real body. My younger brother is just like you guys, humans."

Both brothers laughed hard at the irony of someone not wanting to murder them, yet they've killed so much. "As a farewell gift to both you, kid, and the quiet girl besides you, I will tell you all that I know of this place. I don't know anything on alchemy and the Stone, but I can tell you that this place was once a special lab only meant for creating weapons for military aid. The military needed a weapon that can easily win them wars and help them create the Philosopher's Stone. I don't know the rest from there, but I do know who is trying to create the Stone."

"Who are they?!" Ed shouted, feeling in reach of his answers. Hikaru sat quietly next to him, taking every word into careful detail.

"They are-"

Suddenly to black needles pierced through the blood rune inside the helmet! Ed and Hikaru were in complete shock. It just came out of nowhere! Now with the elder Slicer silenced, the answers to their questions easily slipped away.

"Now that was too close." A slender woman spoke, as she stepped out of the shadows, along with a thin, bony male figure. Both possessed an Ouroboros tattoo each, representing that they're both homunculi. The woman then spoke to the dying Slicer. "You shouldn't talk about things that don't concern you."

"Hey Lust," the male homunculus called, "what's the Fullmetal runt doing here?"

"That sure is problem, Envy." Lust replied. "He may get in Ira's way. You know how angry she gets."

"She's a real brat at times, but we must at least let her feel a bit reunited."

Ed and Hikaru sat watching everything with confusion and bewilderment going on in their heads. What is there to do? They were already badly injured from their previous battle. There was no way they can last through another one. So all that's left for them to do is to simply watch and see how the story unfolds.

Soon another mysterious figure walked from beneath the shadows. She wore black clothing just like the other homunculi and had an Ouroboros tattoo on her left shoulder. The figure revealed herself to be nothing more than a ten-year old girl, but her eyes tell a different story. Her eyes were a cold, icy blue with glacial bitterness. In her eyes, everything to her was anger, rage, and hatred. She wore a beautiful, lacy black and red dress and crimson ribbons in her long doll-like hair. If she were older and tied her hair in a high ponytail, the girl would completely resemble Hikaru. However she was nothing like Hikaru; the girl is purely evil.

The doll-like homunculus slowly walked over towards Ed and Hikaru. The two were still both confused at the whole situation, but the girl didn't make any notice of it. She glared into Ed's eyes, giving him a stare filled with hatred, and then hastily brushed him aside. She instantly turned her horrifying glare towards Hikaru and her fist trembled with fiery rage. Hikaru looked back the insanely angered girl with a strange feeling of fear going through her mind. Soon Hikaru, herself, began to tremble. The small homunculus gave her an evil, demented grin and said.

"Finally, after all this time…we meet again…"


	13. Chapter 13: Crossroad

Chapter 13: Crossroad 

With a completely demented smile staring directly at her face, Hikaru couldn't move. She was frozen at her spot. She didn't fear the doll-like girl that stands before her, but feared the feeling of familiarity of her. Hikaru began to tremble, as different jolts of pain pieced through her chest. The little girl grabbed Hikaru by her bare neck and held the alchemist up to her height level.

"Who…the hell…are you?" Hikaru softly spoke with a couple pauses.

The small homunculus was instantly infuriated at Hikaru's question. She slammed her into the wall in front of her and then dropped her to the ground to breath the smoke of debris in the surrounding air.

"Hikaru!" Ed shouted loudly in concern for his friend. He managed to get up and run over to her, but the little girl won't let him make another move.

"This is between me and her." She angrily said to him. "If you get in my way, I'll kill you."

"What do you want with Hikaru?! Just who the hell are you?!"

"If you must know," she irritably replied, "I am known as Ira among the homunculi. Ira is Latin for anger, hatred, or more literally, wrath. My relationship with Hikaru is completely none of your business, so just get lost."

"Hikaru's my friend! I have the right to be concerned about her!" Ed fought back.

"What are you to Hikaru, anyway?"

"Wha-?!" Ed was surprised at the comment Ira argued with.

"That's right, Fullmetal! What are you to Hikaru?!"

"Like I said before, I'm her friend!"

"Is that it?! What kind of friend? Simple friend? Best friend? Boyfriend?"

"We're allies. We're comrades that fight alongside each other, no matter how dangerous the situation is. She's the kind of friend who has my complete trust, and I will never, ever, betray her in my life!"

Ira merely laughed at Ed's answer and replied, "Well said." She then turned towards Envy and Lust. "Envy, hold Fullmetal at bay for a moment. I can't have him interfere with me any longer. I had my share of laughs for today. Lust, get rid of these foolish guards. They're useless and just another nuisance to me."

"Do we have to follow her orders?" Envy complained to Lust.

"Just do as she says." Lust answered. "It's better than having her torture us later."

"For the love of God, why does Pride have to spoil her so much?"

Lust sliced the helmet she had in her needle-like fingers through the center of the blood rune, thus killing the elder Slicer brother.

"Big Brother!" The younger Slicer cried. "Big Brother! BIG BROTHER!!" Ed was disgusted by the cruelty these homunculi had. The Slicer brothers are humans, even if they no longer possess a body. The Alchemist felt a pain in his heart. He didn't want to imagine a situation like this with him and Al. Ed got off the floor and tried to rush over and help, but was suddenly pulled back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Envy playfully said, tugging on Ed's braid. He was too weak to fight back, but also the teasing homunculus had a tight grip on his hair. He completely was helpless. Hikaru managed to lift her upper body off the floor with a stream of blood sliding down the right side of her face. Ira noticed Hikaru trying to get back on her feet and slammed her foot into her stomach. The crimson-eyed Alchemist fell back to the ground while coughing up some blood.

"I need you to stay here while I take care of some quick business." Ira said as she grabbed the thin samurai sword the younger Slicer had dropped. She slowly walked over to his fallen body and forcefully pierced through the center of his blood rune with anger and rage in her strength.

"JUST SHUT UP!" She furiously shouted at the armor. "You really get on my nerves. Going on and on about your stupid, dead brother! YOU'RE SO ANNOYING! DIE! DIE! DIE!" Ira continuously stabbed the blood rune over and over again. Lust had to grab the little girl's arms and restrain her back before she goes crazy.

"Calm down, Ira," Lust soothed and patted her head softly. "He's already dead. There's no point in killing him again."

"I can't help it. I never liked that guy. He always goes on and on about him and his big brother. That's what really makes me mad!"

"It's ok. Now go finish off what you need to say to Hikaru."

Ira listened and turned her sights on Hikaru. She walked over and kneeled down close to her. She then asked the Alchemist.

"Can you remember me?"

Hikaru spit off some blood to the side and then answered, "I'm sorry. You're so familiar to me, but I don't know who you are, Ira."

Acting without control, Ira instantly grabbed Hikaru off the ground and smashed her against the wall. "WHY CAN'T YOU REMEMBER ME?!" She shouted furiously. "I REMEMBER YOU!"

"Then…who am I?" Hikaru faintly replied. "I awoke only about a year ago…I can't…remember anything…before that."

"LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO ME! I'M A HOMUNCULUS NOW! DO YOU THINK I LIKE LIVING LIKE THIS?! ALWAYS ACTING OFF ANGER AND HATRED?! YOU'RE MY BIG SISTER! YOU CAN'T LET ME LIVE LIKE THIS!"

With nothing but rage clouding her mind, Ira consistently slammed Hikaru against the wall, as if trying to kill her. She then forcefully threw her to the ground and watched as her older sister hurl out a large amount of blood.

"Hikaru! HIKARU!!" Ed shouted and shouted, but was held back by Envy. He knows Hikaru won't last much longer. She lost too much blood. There were literally small pools of blood around her. He watched helplessly as Hikaru was continuously being stabbed in the back by the blade Ira took from the Slicer brothers. But it was rather strange. Anyone would already be dead that many consecutive stabs, even if it was in the back.

Ira lifted the blade up once, but this time the damage will be far greater. The blade speedily fell towards Hikaru, but right before it hits, the blade was suddenly knocked out of the child's grasp. There stood in her way was the being Hikaru gave a body to, L. Ed remembered fighting L back in Hikaru forest mansion in Elendia. What's she doing here at a time like this?

"Why did you get in my way?" Ira irritably asked.

"You were going to kill her." L calmly answered.

"Why shouldn't I?! She no longer remembers us!"

"It's all right for me. I don't care if she remembers me or not. I can never hate my big sister."

"You people sicken me."

"Ira, that's enough now." Lust called out. "You got an answer from her. You're done. Don't go and have your anger kill everyone here. We still need Hikaru and Fullmetal to be alive."

"Whatever, Lust." Ira responded. "There was no way I can kill Hikaru anyway. Something was keeping me from doing it, no matter how many times I stabbed her."

"Good. Then let's get going."

Envy was just about to follow his comrades when a sudden elbow strike smashed into his torso. Ed broke free of Envy's grip on his hair and got into fighting pose, ready to battle once more.

"Hey, the little guy still has some fight left in him." Envy teasingly said.

"QUIT CALLING ME SMALL!" Ed shouted angrily at the homunculus and clapped his hands together, performing a transmutation. However, a large crack sound creaked from his auto-mail arm and it quickly fell limp. "Oh shit! At a time like this?!"

"Lucky!" Envy happily cheered as he kneed Ed in his stomach. Before Ed can fall towards the floor, Envy grabbed onto his braid again. "You should be glad that your arm broke or else I would've beaten the crap out of you."

"C'mon Envy, "Lust called out, "We're finished here. We can't kill Fullmetal or else Pride would furious with us."

"That's fine with me." Envy laughed and turned his sights back on Ed. "Just remember, runt, we let you live." He then dropped Ed back on the ground. The Alchemist turned his head to get a glimpse of his comrade. His heart ached to see her motionless on the floor in a lake of her own blood.

"Do you guys want this place destroyed?" Ira asked before she left the scene.

"We no longer have a use for it and it can cover up all the evidence." Lust planned out. "Just save that one special room I mentioned to you before coming here and you have my permission to detonate this place."

"That's perfect. I already set up the bombs earlier, just in case we needed to blow something up, and I marked out that room you spoke of." Ira replied and then placed her hand on a giant lever on the wall. "One of the things I don't hate is causing explosions. This is going to be fun." She pulled it down, and instantly, chains of explosions occurred around the entire laboratory. The walls in the room began to rumble as rocks began to fall from the ceiling. As Ira and Lust were about to make their leave, Ira turned around and faced her older sister. She then declared, "I don't care how much pain I make you suffer, sister. I will force you to remember me and remember what you did to me. Soon I shall have my revenge on you!"

--------------

Outside of Laboratory 5 swarms of military soldiers began to rush over to the area from the sound of the explosion. Outside was where Al was doing battle against another armored soul, Barry the Chopper. Their match was cut short when Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh enter the scene and fired their guns at Barry.

With the explosion there was only little time to escape. Even Barry the Chopper quickly fled from the crumbling area. Ross knew that it was best for them to hurry up and leave, but Al wouldn't move.

"What're you doing, Al?" Ross loudly questioned. "We have to leave now!"

"My brother!" He shouted. "My brother's still inside!"

"Right now, just worry about saving yourself!"

Suddenly a figured appeared from the smoke of dust before them. It was Envy carrying both Ed and Hikaru on each of his shoulders.

"Hello there," he greeted, "I've come to deliver a package."

"Big brother! Hikaru!" Al cried.

Envy dropped Ed off first and explained, "His wounds aren't that bad, but he's lost a lot of blood." He then dropped Hikaru next. "However, her wounds are more severe and she's lost more blood than him. Better hurry and get them to a hospital. It's a shame to see people with such talent dying like this. We can't afford to lose them."

"Second Lieutenant Ross!" Brosh interrupted. "We have to move! Everything's crumbling faster!"

"All right, Sergeant!" Ross replied. "But give me a hand here!"

"Ed?! Hikaru?! What happened to them?!"

"I'll explain it later." Ross answered him and turned around towards Envy, saying, "You should run, too-" However, the sly homunculus was nowhere to be found. "Hey, where'd he go?"

"Ross, what're you doing?" Brosh called out, as he started to hurry off, carrying Ed on his back. "Let's go!" The second lieutenant threw Hikaru on her back, and then she and Al followed Brosh, fleeing from the crumbling scene.

------------------

Ed suddenly awoke to find himself hospitalized with bandages covering all his wounds. He looked outside and was at least bit happy to see the morning light. He tried to sit up, but his stomach wound still caused him a great amount of pain. Soon the door to his room opened and in came Sergeant Brosh and Second Lieutenant Ross.

"Good to see you awake, Edward." Brosh said.

"Where am I?" Ed curiously asked.

"This is a clinic run by my friend." Ross answered. "We thought it would be better off to take you here, since at the military hospital, the upper rank soldiers may start asking you questions about what you saw. Anyway, please feel free to stay here until you're well, sir."

"Dammit," the Fulmetal Alchemist cursed, "I was so close to find out the truth. This is no time for me to be stuck in a hospital."

Both Brosh and Ross looked at each other and gave each other a head-nodding signal. "Fullmetal Alchemist, sir!" they both shouted. "Please allow us to apologize in advance for our rudeness!" Ed had a questioned look on his face and wondered what they meant. But then Ross raised her hand high in the air and came down like lighting, smacking Ed in the face. The Alchemist was dazed about what just happened. His cheek was completely red from the second lieutenant's strike.

"Major Armstrong specifically told you not to go off on your own!" Ross scolded. "You disobeyed a direct order! He knew that it was going to be dangerous and that's he told you to stay put! And since you defied his orders, you almost got yourself killed! You may be talented, sir, but remember, you're still a child! And you can't always act on your own. You need to trust the people around you. It's ok to trust adults sometimes."

Ed gave it a thought as both Brosh and Ross apologized once more. "You guys don't have to apologize. I'm the one who needs to apologize. I'm sorry."

"Will you reprimand us for slapping you?" Brosh asked as they both waited for his answer.

"Nah, I had it coming." Ed answered. The two military soldiers were both very relieved at his response. "Why are you guys so polite to me?"

"Although you're not a standard soldier, your rank is equivalent to that of a Major." Ross explained.

"One word from you and we could be discharged." Brosh added.

"There's no need for you guys to be nervous around me." Ed avowed. "After all, I didn't take the State Alchemist test for the rank. And you don't always have to be so polite. I'm just a child, right?"

"Nah, seriously?" Ross said sarcastically.

"Thank God!" Brosh laughed. "You have no idea how hard it was for me to be so polite to someone younger!"

_They're so quick to adapt._ The Alchemist irritably thought and then asked, "By the way, where's Al?"

"I punched him and gave him the same lecture as you." Brosh explained. "But I nearly broke my hand in the process."

"My brother's got a hard head, huh?" Ed laughed, watching the sergeant stare at his almost-broken hand. "That reminds me, where's Hikaru? Is she all right?"

"I'm afraid this is where the laughter ends, Edward." Ross stated.

"Why?" he questioned. "Is there something wrong with Hikaru?"

"Her wounds were far greater than yours." Brosh solemnly continued for his partner. "When we brought her in the doctors told us to take her to the emergency room, since she was in really critical condition. We were asked to give medics some room to treat her wounds, so we're not sure of what condition she's in now."

Ed silently held his head low, but then shouted, "Why are we sitting here talking about it?! Take me to her!!"

Ed hurried and stood up, but his wounds continued to pain him. However he wasn't going to let that stop him from seeing Hikaru. Ross brought in a wheel chair and placed his on the seat. Brosh to the handle and, as fast as possible, they took Ed to the emergency room.

There a giant red sign hung from above, reading "EMERGENCY ROOM". Ross opened the two large doors before them and Brosh and Ed followed her inside the dark room. Barely any light illuminated the room, and it was difficult to tell where anything was.

"Why's it so dark in here?" Ed curiously questioned.

"It's hard for one to sleep with the lights on, right?" A voice came and startled the trio, as the lights suddenly flicked on. There stood a woman with long, orange hair wearing a nurse uniform.

"Ayumi?!" Ed exclaimed. "What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be working at the military hospital?"

"Keep your voice down." Ayumi whispered, putting her index finger on his lips. "You know your comrade's in here sleeping. I can answer some of your questions later, but right now I can tell that you want to see her, right?"

"Of course! Please take me to her!"

"Ed, please learn to keep quiet."

"Oh, sorry. I can't help it."

Ayumi then took control of Ed's wheelchair and pushed him forward deeper into the room. As Ed's bodyguards, both Ross and Brosh had to follow. Soon they came upon a huge hospital bed where Hikaru laid asleep.

"It took a while for us to stop the bleeding, since her wounds were much deeper than they appear." Ayumi explained. "I hate saying this, but she suffered from external and internal bleeding wounds from all over her body, especially her back and her stomach. However, fortunately for her, none of her internal organs were seriously damaged, and her body should carry out its regular functions once she's fully recovered."

"That's good to hear." Ed softly spoke as he stared Hikaru. "Can I have a moment alone with her?" he requested.

"We were instructed not to-" Ross began but Ayumi hushed her and turned the two soldiers around.

"Can't you tell how much he really cares for her?" Ayumi said. "It's best for us to be polite and leave them alone. Besides this room is secure enough that nothing will happen." She then escorted them out of the Emergency Room. Both Brosh and Ross agreed that maybe it was best to leave them alone for a while.

When Ed knew that the room was securely locked he got up from his wheelchair and somberly gazed at his fallen comrade. He gently placed his left hand on her forehead and was glad to feel her warmth. He let his hand slide down to her cheek, and to his surprise, he never knew how soft and tender her face was. He then tightly held on to her hand, again astonished to feel how smooth and gentle her hand is.

Hoping that she could hear him, Ed pleaded, "Hikaru, can you please forgive me? I'm really sorry. It's all my fault that you're in here like this, almost dead and with a long recovery waiting ahead. If I weren't so weak, we wouldn't be hospitalized like this. I felt useless back at that stupid lab. I was the one who wanted to find the information on the Philosopher's Stone, but instead of me getting severely beaten, it was you. It's not you're fault that you have amnesia. You shouldn't have been almost killed for it. Damn that Ira. I promise I'll become stronger and hunt down those homunculi for you. I don't want to always depend on you. It makes me feel really pathetic. Please get better soon, Hikaru. To Al and me, you're more than just our companion."

Just then, Ed heard the door opened and in came Ayumi. She could tell by his look that he seems to be satisfied and was able to let out everything that troubled his mind.

"Better let her get some rest, Ed." She said.

"That's fine with me." He agreed. "Just tell me when she wakes up."

"All right. You'll be the first to know." She escorted him out of the room and turned the lights back off. Outside Sergeant Brosh and Second Lieutenant Ross were happy to see that Ed returned safely. "I'll leave him with you guys." Ayumi said and walked off down the hallway.

She soon came across a phone booth and carefully examined her surroundings. When she knew that the coast was clear, she quickly dialed the numbers on the rotary phone. They need to seriously come up with a faster way to dial. She thought. I really hate spinning this stupid wheel.

After a couple rings, someone answered on the other side. "Hello? Xing Long Distance Travel Agency." Came a young female voice.

"Hey Hana," Ayumi replied, "No need for the Travel Agency cover. It's me Ayumi."

"Good to hear word from you, Ayumi." Hana happily said. "It's so lonely working here with the others busy working on the Project over in Ametris."

"Look Hana, I have to make this quick. I'm in public area so I might not be sure if there's an eavesdropper."

"That's fine with me."

"After you I tell you this, forward it over to Namine."

"Understood."

"You know how I have the power to feel the presence of a high, destructive energy level, right? That's obviously why I was hired for this Project. Well, this is what you should forward over: We already have suspicions on Hikaru being a part of the Project, but I feel that this way may be heading towards a path junction. I felt another strong presence from the Fullmetal Alchemist. However he's emitting more of a stronger vibe. I would suggest keeping an eye on him as well."

"Is that everything you need to tell me?"

"Pretty much. I hope you got all that."

"Don't worry about it. You know my skill as a messenger."

"Good, then I'll stay here and keep an eye on him and Hikaru while their hospitalized. You and the others can continue on the Project research. I bid you farewell, Hana."

"Same to you, Ayumi." The two then hung up the phone. Ayumi was glad to pass on her information before anyone came across the hall. However she knew that the more in depth she and her teammates dig deeper into the mystery of Tsubasa, the more dangerous it'd become. Just finding out that their Project is breaking in a crossroad just makes things more complicated.

_Damn._ Ayumi thought. _This Project is going to be more difficult that I thought. I just happen to be at the closest range to them. This means I have to hurry and make the decision of who to follow, since I can't be in two places at once. So which path down this crossroad should I take?_


	14. Chapter 14: Remembrance

Chapter 14: Remembrance

Ed knew that with Hikaru still asleep in the Emergency Room, there was no way she could repair his auto-mail arm. He also didn't want to be a bother to her after her recovery, so he had no other choice but to call his mechanic from Resembool. He slowly dialed the numbers on a nearby phone, knowing the future that awaits him when his mechanic on the other side picks up.

"Hello? Rockbell Auto-mail Shop." A young female voice answered.

"Hey Winry? It's me, Ed." The Alchemist said.

"Ed? I never expected to get a call from you out of all people."

"Yeah, well…this is really hard for me to ask…but could you, um, come out here to do some repairs?"

"What? You want me to come to you?"

"Yeah, I busted my right arm and I can't get over to Resembool, since I have things to take care of here."

"What kind of things?" Winry asked suspiciously.

"Uh… I kinda got this girl-" Ed began, but then was interrupted by Winry loudly shrieking at him.

"YOU GOT A GIRL PREGNANT?!" She screamed at him with bewilderment.

"No, no." Ed clarified. "Before you suddenly interrupted me, I wanted say I got a girl, who happens to be a good friend of mine, in the Emergency Room in the hospital. And it's best if I stay to see when she recovers."

"Hospital? Were you and her in some big fight?"

"You could say that. We weren't fighting each other, but fought alongside each other in battle. And that's where I busted my arm."

"AGAIN?!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO BE MORE CAREFUL WITH YOUR AUTO-MAIL?!!"

Ed held the phone far from his ears as possible. He didn't want Winry's deafening voice piercing through his ears and throughout his brain. Ed knew that if he told her about completely breaking his right arm in his battle with Scar, she would definitely yell at him even louder. If he had actually gone back to Resembool for repairs, she would've thrown a wrench at his head.

There was then silence coming from the phone. Ed wondered where all the screaming went and asked, "Hello…? Winry…?"

"Looks like I have no choice." Winry sighed. "Where are you at?"

"I'm at Central."

"All right. I'll be on my way."

"Are you okay, Winry? You seem awfully… nice."

"Of course I am!" She said defensively. "I'm always nice!"

"Yeah…Sure…Just take the train to Central and you'll find somebody you'll recognize instantly."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few hours."

"That's good." The two hung up the phone, and Ed stood, with his hand still grasping onto it, staring at the ceiling. His mind soon drifted off into space.

"You shouldn't be getting out of bed like this!" A nurse suddenly shouted, startling everyone at the clinic.

"Your wounds still need time to mend!" another nurse said.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Hikaru spoke back as she slowly limped her way from the Emergency Room. It's been about several hours since Ed had visited her room that morning. She suddenly awoke and noticed that her wounds were strangely no longer in pain, but her legs were still fatigued. Knowing that her injuries have mostly recovered, Hikaru hurries to Ed's room. There was something that came to her in her sleep. A piece of her fractured memory suddenly came back to her and it bothered her every minute that passed by.

She went around, asking the nurses where Ed's room is located until she finally came upon the hallway that led towards it. But right when she turned the corner, she noticed Major Armstrong was speaking with a blonde stranger. Hikaru watched him lead her into Ed's room and something inside of her began to ache when she saw that girl. The crimson-eyed Alchemist clenched the chest of her green, infirmary shirt and felt confident to follow them in.

The door was slightly opened, leaving enough room to eavesdrop. Hikaru overheard about the blonde girl being Ed's real mechanic and that she's here to fix Ed's broken auto-mail arm. Ed pulled off his shirt and revealed the arm to his mechanic, as she shrieked.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO **MY** AUTOMAIL?!!!!!"

"What are you talking about, Winry?" Ed asked, secretly hiding his guilt.

"Don't try to play innocent with me, Ed." She scolded. "I can perfectly tell that's not the same one I made you before. Every mechanic has his or her own style of making auto-mail, and that is definitely not the style of the Rockbell Auto-mail Shop!"

"Calm down. I completely destroyed the arm you made in another fight a long time ago. You were gone when I went to Resembool, so I had to have another mechanic do it."

"W-WHAT?! YOU COMPLETELY DESTROYED MY AUTO-MAIL?!! MY WORK OF ART?!!" This time Winry's eyes lit up in flames. In fact, there was a raging aura surrounding her that resembled the start of a crazy wildfire. Winry took out her whole arsenal of mechanic tools and was ready to punish Ed for destroying her auto-mail. She first pulled out a giant monkey wrench and slowly lifted the tool in the air.

Hikaru watched as Winry came down like a meteor and smashed the wrench into Ed's skull. At that instant, Hikaru classified the blonde to be scary, violent, and very psychotic. Suddenly Winry pulled out a giant chainsaw and Hikaru knew that this was going a bit too overboard. She was supposed to be to repair Ed's arm, not to slice him into pieces. Hikaru hastily bursts into his room and shouts.

"Please stop! It's not Ed's fault. It's mine!"

Winry dropped her weapons, as she and Ed were thunderstruck to see Hikaru appear unexpectedly in the room. There was a sudden moment of silence that came among the three. Ed was shocked to see Hikaru recovered so quickly. No human can recover from wounds as fatal as hers at that fast speed rate. In fact, the average human wouldn't even survive from those wounds and the terrible hemorrhage she suffered through.

Winry wondered who she was. She just suddenly bursts in, telling her to discontinue Ed's punishment. She also doesn't like the familiar feeling she's getting from Hikaru. There was a ghastly vibe that she felt when she set her eyes on Hikaru.

Hikaru now feels pretty bad for interrupting like this, but she couldn't stand seeing Ed being abused. She wanted to clear up everything that's going on right now, but the moment just felt too awkward. Hikaru can tell that the blonde mechanic had been a friend of Ed's longer she has. It made her feel like she shouldn't even be in the picture. There was a certain emotion that she couldn't describe that began to surge through her as she saw the disliking stare Winry was giving her.

"Who are you?" Winry asked with suspicion.

"The name's Hikaru. Just like you, I'm Ed's friend," Hikaru answered, "and a mechanic that made him an auto-mail arm."

"I'm Winry Rockbell, Ed's mechanic. Looks like we're gonna have an engineering competition here." Winry said as flames lit in her eyes.

"Winry, Winry, there's no need for this." Ed pleaded, but the blonde mechanic refused to listen.

"Ed, I'm your mechanic and I'm not gonna be replaced by short, little shrimp like her!" Winry shouted and pointed directly in Hikaru's face. If that comment were towards Ed, he'd be furious and run on a rampage. However, Hikaru remained calm and not angered. Ed was stunned to see that Hikaru wasn't even the least bit angered by Winry. Even Hikaru herself was shocked. It's like the emotion of rage and anger has left her.

_What's going on?_ Hikaru thought. _Obviously, I'm offended, and I should be angry at her, even if it's a tiny amount. But…I can't feel it! I can't feel the anger that should be coming out from inside of me! _She had to think of something fast before anyone suspects that there's something wrong with her emotions.

"That's very nice of you calling me a shrimp and everything," Hikaru said sarcastically, "but I'm not like Ed. I won't get angered for needless, derogative comments. I don't really care if I'm short."

"Still, are you up for it?" Winry asked.

"For what?"

"Our mechanic competition to prove who's the better mechanic."

"I should probably throw in the towel right now." Hikaru surprisingly said, throwing Winry and Ed back in shock. "I mess with engineering stuff on my free time, and it's just for fun. You on the other hand are a skilled professional. I can never match you in skill level."

"But Hikaru," Ed opposed her, "the arm you built for me was like perfect auto-mail and you did it the quickest speed I've seen in my life."

"Ed, are you suggesting that her auto-mail is better than mine?" Winry threatened.

"N-Not at all, Winry…" he stuttered a bit in fear of her rage.

"Ed, the arm you have attached to you isn't entirely auto-mail." Hikaru explained as both Ed and Winry were appalled. "It's not the authentic auto-mail you would get from a professional mechanic." She walked over and had Ed take off his shirt again. She then pointed around at the mechanical arm. "It looks real, but half of it is material you would use to assemble a gun or any other military weapon. So it's my fault that his arm is in this bad condition. And now you're in the hospital because you couldn't defend yourself. I feel terrible."

"I-It's not your fault, Hikaru." Ed spoke, trying to reassure her. "That Silcer guy purposely twisted the joint loose."

"That arm is light and sturdy, but is best used when you transmute it to a firearm. It has a great attack power when on offensive and can hold itself when in defense as well. However, if you're too rough on it, it will break. The Slicer brother must've jammed his blade perfectly into one of the joint gaps and forcefully smashed the interior material."

"Since she threw in towel," Winry declared, "looks like I've won the battle."

"Are you okay with that, Hikaru?" Ed asked. "It's really not like you to surrender."

"Just remember the saying," Hikaru smiled at Winry, "'you may have won the battle, but you haven't won the war'."

"You're real clever." Winry competitively smirked at her.

"Thanks for the compliment." She said and returned the smirk.

Ed noticed the fire burning between the two and thought to himself, _Why are girls always so competitive?_ He sighed but then noticed someone pass by his door. The silhouette was obviously that of Al's. He walked by without coming inside. There was something strange going on with him, like something happened to him back at Laboratory 5. _What's wrong with Al?_ He thought.

"Get on your stomach, Ed." Winry instructed. "I'm going to fix that arm for you…if I can figure out the mechanics of this crazy hybrid." She then glares over at Hikaru, who innocently smiles back.

Suddenly the door bursts open and in comes two nurses. They had very angered looks on their faces, and it seems that they were doing a bit of exercising. In other words, they've must've ran around the entire hospital.

"Miss Hikaru!" one nurse shouted. "How could you just run off from the Emergency Room with fatal injuries still needing to be healed?!"

"We had to run around the whole entire hospital looking for you!" the second one added.

"I'm sorry," Hikaru apologized, "I needed to tell Edward something really important."

"Well, you'll just have to tell him about it later." The first nurse spoke as she grabbed her arm. "It's time for us to check up on your wounds."

"But-" Hikaru began.

"No 'buts'!" the second nurse scolded and grabbed her other arm. The two nurses then dragged Hikaru out of Ed's room. She was still resisting their hold on her but who knew that medical assistants had such tight grip. With Hikaru completely out of the room, Winry began her operation on Ed's arm. She sighed, knowing that it may take longer, since she has to work with a hybrid auto-mail arm.

Blinding lights flashed from many ceiling lamps. It illuminated the dark the dark room with its bright luminosity. However it directed above one certain spot in that dark room; it was above a white stretcher. Several medics surrounded the stretcher looking down at their patient, who happens to be Hikaru.

"The light really hurts my eyes." Hikaru said as she held her arm over her eyes.

"We're just doing a quick check-up on you." One medic explained. "We'll turn them off real soon."

They had to strip off her clothes to see how the wounds have progressed in recovery. The medics were in shock. Never before they've seen such fatal wounds heal in a fast amount of time. Most of the injuries were gone. There were only a few scabs on her legs, which still show signs of fatigue.

"Looks like you no longer need to be in this room." A doctor spoke. "Most of your injuries have almost full recovered. I'll release you from this room now."

"Thank you." Hikaru replied. "Sorry if I troubled you."

"No need for any apologies." A nurse said. "You're, after all, our most unique patient."

"Besides, we didn't have to do much work on you, since you quickly recovered." A medic added.

"Thanks again." Hikaru smiled and then left the Emergency Room.

She wandered back to Ed's room and noticed that only Winry was there. She was sitting on the floor, wiping tears from her eyes. Hikaru kneeled down by her and asked.

"What's wrong, Winry?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, Hikaru." She answered. "It's just that the Elric brothers were fighting over something stupid again. Al thought that Ed fabricated his memories and that he was never real. I had to slap him out of that thought and make him go apologize to Ed. I can't have him thinking like that. Throughout their whole adventure, all they had was each other. They never tell me what's going on, and for everything terrible they go through, I cry for them instead."

She wiped her face once more and then looked at Hikaru. Hikaru strangely showed no sign of sorrowful emotion. _I feel terrible for them, but why can't I show any signs of sadness? _Hikaru thought._ First my anger vanished, and now my sorrow! What's wrong with me?_

As Winry continued to cry more as her memories of all the pain the Elric brothers went through returned to her. Hikaru knows she feels awful about it, but needs a way for her emotions to show. She held Winry's face and wiped the tears from her crying eyes.

"There's no need to cry over that, Winry." Hikaru stated. "They both must believe that there was no need to tell you of their troubles. Just observe it. Men tend to express themselves through their actions rather than words. If I question Ed and Al myself, they won't say a word. They'd rather bear the pain themselves than cause their loved ones to worry. When it's the right time, I'm sure they'll explain everything."

"Thanks Hikaru." Winry said as she wiped the rest of her tears away. "Even though you're being a great friend to me now, our rivalry over mechanics is still on."

Hikaru merely laughed at the last comment, but at least she got Winry to feel better. She helped Winry up from the ground and the two girls gave each other a strange smile they both found ghastly familiar. It's as if they've met before in the past. And just from their recent encounter a new friendship and rivalry has been forged.

"Wanna go check up on the brothers?" Winry asked.

"I hope everything's back together." Hikaru chuckled. "It's really not like Al to keep quiet and keep stuff like that to himself.

Winry and Hikaru reached the roof of the hospital and noticed the two brothers up there. They were quickly sparring, and for the first time, Ed finally beat Al. They lied on the floor and began to go back through their memories about all their stupid arguments. The girls found themselves interested in the Elric brothers' conversation and began to eavesdrop.

"What's wrong, brother?" Al asked when his brother suddenly stopped talking back.

"Nothing really," Ed answered. "There's just something I can't quite remember from our childhood. It's like a missing piece of a giant jigsaw puzzle."

"Is it really bothering you badly?"

"I guess. I remember before we infiltrated Lab 5, Hikaru asked me something really important. She wondered if I can remember anything from 3 to 4 years before I became a State Alchemist. I was about 8 or 9 that time, and for some reason there seems to be a memory gap. I still have all the memories of the rest of my years, but for just two years, it's all a blank. Do you remember anything?"

"I think I remember some of it. Those two years were strange times we've been through. The second year you were mostly gone. Mom said you went to Central for a really important kind of rendezvous with some military men. And the first year I remember we had a guest living with us. I'm sure the guest was a girl, and she was about your age, Ed."

"What did this guest look like?"

"I admit she was really cute." Al then began whisper loudly. "Don't tell Winry this, but the girl was much cuter than her."

Ed loudly laughed, and back from behind the roof entrance, Winry was angrily muttering to herself. She made a death list to herself and poor Al was moved up to the number one spot.

"Go on, Al" Ed requested. "My memories are slowing coming together. And maybe this stupid amnesia problem will be solved."

"She had long black hair and had dark blue eyes like the Colonel's. I think her name was Natsuki, but she was always called Naoki."

When Al finished, he noticed something wrong with his brother. He was clutching his head in pain! Winry wanted to hurry and help Ed, but there was also something wrong with Hikaru as well. Just by hearing what Al said, Hikaru began to hold her head in deep pain. To still keep her and Winry undercover, she slid behind the wall and slowly let her body slip to the ground. Winry quickly turned her attention on the brothers and noticed that Al would take care of Ed, so she placed her focus back on Hikaru.

"Brother, are you okay?" Al asked in concern.

"I'm all right now." Ed answered as he slowly panted. "It's just when that memory came back it brought so much pain back into my head. I don't know why."

However, unlike Ed, Hikaru didn't recover so easily. With her back lying against the wall she was suffering a greater pain. She still held tightly on to her head, as well as covering her ears.

"Hikaru, what's wrong?" Winry asked. "You just suddenly broke into pain about the same time Ed did."

"I don't know what's wrong with me." Hikaru replied. "I keep hearing this sound in my head and it hurts. It's like a really fast beating." She steadily placed her hand on the upper left of Winry's neck. "It feels and sounds like that."

Winry removed Hikaru's hand and placed her own on there. "That's a pulse from your heart."

More pain continued to jolt into Hikaru's head. Winry realized that what she said only made it worse.

"I couldn't hear the last word you just said." Hikaru solemnly said. "Only that last word was left out, like it was censored from my ears. The beating got louder only just to cover the sound of your last word."

"Maybe, it's best for me not a say anything. Sorry about it." Winry apologized

"It's all right. You didn't know. I'll be fine in a moment." Hikaru said as she rested on the wall for a bit longer. Just like Ed, she was heavily panting, and her head was warm and sweaty. Winry tried to blow some cool wind to help cool her down. Soon Hikaru's temperature returned to normal and the fast, rhythmical, beating sound disappeared. She took in deep breath and slowly let it out from her system.

"I feel better now." Hikaru said as she slowly stood back on her feet. "Let's go see Ed."

"Yeah." Winry replied. "I hope he can recover as fast as you."

"Ed's strong. He should be fine, but it's still best to check up on him." Both Winry and Hikaru ran through the roof entrance and surprised the Elric brothers with their appearance.

"Hikaru? Winry? What're you two doing here?" Al wondered.

"When we arrived here, we noticed Ed going through serious pain." Hikaru explained.

"Are you okay, Ed?" Winry asked.

"Yeah." Ed answered. "It was only a quick jolt of pain."

"Ed," Hikaru said, as she helped him off the ground, "there was something I really needed to tell you back in the hospital room, but never got the chance to."

Ed can tell how serious it was by her expression and asked for both Winry and Al to leave and not try to eavesdrop. Just in case they might, he told Hikaru to speak in a soft voice. It didn't matter, however, since Hikaru already has a soft voice. Once the two left, their secret conversation began.

"What did you need to tell me?" Ed asked.

"First, I must apologize for secretly listening in on your conversation with Al about your strange memory gap." Hikaru said. "I'm apologizing for Winry as well."

"So you heard everything we said before I suddenly broke out in agony?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

"That's okay. Most of the stuff you already know about."

"Well now, I hope you're ready for me to tell you something important."

"Why?"

"Seeing how you suffered from a piece of your fractured memory returning," Hikaru explained with concern, as she placed her hand on his forehead, "I was afraid that you would be in more pain from what I'm about to tell you."

"I'll be fine." Ed reassured her as he tightly held on to her hand. "There's no need to worry. I'm always getting stronger." He gave her a heartwarming smile, and with that, Hikaru knows that he's ready for anything.

"When I suddenly woke up from inside the Emergency Room, I went through the same sudden jolt of pain you just did. You know that I, too, am missing pieces of my memories, but most of mine disappeared. Strangely when a fraction of our memory returns, it gives us both great pain, like there's something that's blocking us from remembering and our memory portions happen to break through the sealed wall. The passing of our memories through that sealed wall causes us to suffer a great deal of agony, probably from the friction of the memory trying to get through."

"Woah." Ed commented, as he was amazed about Hikaru's logical configuration of the possibility of their shared pain. "Is this what you needed to explain to me?"

"No." she answered. "It was only to elaborate on what I need to tell you. Now let me continue. When I awoke I piece of my lost memories returned to me. It came back to me through a strange dream. I was a dark laboratory, and I was walking along a narrow corridor when I suddenly noticed that you confronted me. There was only a blank expression on your face. You looked like you were possessed by something evil. I continuously questioned you about what was wrong and then something unexpectedly appeared on your chest. There, written in blood, were three large digits, '024'. You then pointed to my chest and written on mine were '023'. That's where I woke up with the pain in my head."

"That can't be real, right?"

"Of course something like that wasn't real, but it made me remember something bizarre. Now the number haunts my memories. That number '023'."


	15. Chapter 15: Natsuki

Chapter 15: Natsuki

Darkness fell over the isolated room and a chill swept through the area. A young boy, at the age of nine, stood by himself, shivering in his the thin clothes he wore. He could see his own breath before his face. His blonde hair almost felt damp from the freezing air surrounding him. The boy didn't know why he was here, but knows that he was tricked in coming here. Military men came to his home and took him from his mother and younger brother, saying that he was needed for an important, secret rendezvous.

They lied. They threw him in this ice-cold room, telling him that he was needed for an important experiment. The military had the boy wear a large tag over the chest of his shirt, and on the tag was the number "024" written in large, bold print. Beneath the number, printed in small text was the boy's name. It read, "Edward Elric".

He heard a knock come from the door and hopes that the military might finally let him leave this cold, isolated room. He was right about the military coming in, but their intentions weren't to set him free. Two soldiers were escorting a little girl inside the room. She was carrying a small sketchbook in one hand and a pencil in the other. Just like Ed, she wore a large tag on her chest, but hers read "023".

"Stay in there till you're needed, 23." The first soldier instructed and pushed her in.

"But it's really cold in here." The girl said as she began to shiver.

"There's no harm in turning on some heat." The second soldier said to the first. He angrily mumbled to himself and pulled up the temperature lever. The lights turned on and a heat ventilation was activated. Both Ed and the girl felt the sudden heat wave blow pass them and finally stopped shivering. Before the two soldiers left, they locked the door to the room, so the kids wouldn't escape.

With the room warmer, the place wasn't that much of a frozen hellhole. The room was of pure white, and even the furniture was white. There was a small table and a few chairs for them to sit on. After the soldiers have left, the room once again got quiet, until Ed broke the silence.

"Natsuki, is that you?" he asked as he walked up to her.

"Yeah…it's me." She slowly answered.

"What are you doing here? I thought your brother came and took you home."

"He did. And he took me here, too."

"Your brother's in the military, huh?"

Natsuki nodded and then asked, "What're you doing here, Ed?"

"Those military jerks came to my house saying that they needed me for something. And then they threw me in here saying that I'm needed for some important project they're doing. You're probably needed, too, since you have a number on your chest."

"I know they need me. They already started their experiment on my body. I just came back from surgery and already I feel different."

Ed could easily tell the difference with his friend, Natsuki. She was always such a cheerful girl and was always happy around him. But she was no longer the same. She didn't come back from the surgery for the military project. She came back from another one.

Natsuki sat down at the table and laid out her sketchbook. She then began looking at all the sketches she drew in the past. She didn't mind that Ed was looking over her shoulder, but actually scooted over on the chair so they could share the same seat. The chair was rather large for just her, anyway. Ed then noticed a slight smile was returning to her face, and realized that she was struggling to show her happiness.

"Sorry for looking so sad." Natsuki unexpectedly apologized.

"Why are you apologizing, Natsuki?" Ed wondered. "It's not your fault."

"It's just that…I'm used to being so happy around you. You can probably tell it's hard for me to give you a smile right now. But I'm doing a good job, right?" She tried her best to give him the biggest smile she can possibly give at this moment, and it was actually a pretty decent one.

"You're making good progress, but a big one's like this." Ed laughed and stretched that smile, as well as her cheeks. With that, he got Natsuki to at least laugh a little with him. The two gazed into Natsuki's sketchbook and pondered through all the memories of her drawings. She would always capture every scene almost like a photograph. Ed was always amazed at her artistic talent.

"I really like being with you, Ed." Natsuki happily said, finally breaking through her struggle. "It's always so much fun, and it's so hard not to smile around you."

"I can't imagine living in a world without you, Natsuki, or as I should say, Naoki." Ed replied to her. "Even though we're going through a weird military crisis at this moment, you're still my happiness and…I'm yours. No matter what happens to me, I hope to never, ever forget about you…"

_Then why did I?_ Ed sadly questioned himself as he suddenly awoke from a lost memory. He is now his sixteen year-old self, and not the one he was in his missing memory. He began to rescan through his sudden recollection and wondered what happened to his friend, Natsuki. _That memory was really strange._ Ed thought. _We were in Lab 5! I knew the layout of that place was so familiar! It was used for a mysterious military project. And I was part of it. Okay, think! The military's done a lot of stupid things in the past, but there was only one massive project they worked on. Wait a minute…THE TSUBASA PROJECT!!_

"Ed, are you okay?" Hikaru asked. "You seem really shaken about something."

_Should I tell her?_ Ed thought for as moment but then believed that it was best not to worry her yet. "It's nothing you should worry about, Hikaru. I just remembered something. That's all." He then noticed something different about her. "Hey! What's with the new getup?"

Hikaru finally changed from the clothes the hospital made her wear into some new attire that were different from her old ones, as well. But just like her old outfit, her new one was almost all black. She wore a sleeveless sailor-fuku (also know as a sailor outfit) with red streaks on the collar and at the bottom tips. Underneath the sailor-styled collar was a darker, black necktie with a white cross at the end. To Ed's surprise, Hikaru wore a black pleated skirt. He would never expect her to wear one.

"My old clothes were really torn and in bad condition thanks to our last fight." Hikaru answered him with a simple laugh. "Winry and Second Lieutenant Ross went out and bought me this new outfit. It's light and great for combat mobility."

"But what about the skirt? It's not like you to wear one." Ed questioned as he examined it, since he was new to the pleated design.

"I hate skirts, but they forced me to wear it." She replied and then lifted her skirt up, causing Ed to scream loudly and his face to turn entirely red. She explained to him, "No need for screaming, Ed. See? I'm wearing these shorts."

"S-Still Hikaru…p-please keep the skirt down." Ed stuttered and pulled down the skirt for her. Hikaru has never seen his face so red before, even more than his little "accident" before their infiltration of Lab 5. She decided to tease him a little bit more and lifted the skirt up again. For another time, Ed screamed once again. "Hikaru! Please stop!" He begged and tried to pull it back down, but this time, Hikaru fought back with her own force. Ed's face continued to get redder and redder, until blood started to drip from his nose. Ed knew that if no one were to come in and save him, he might end up having another "accident", and having it right in front of a girl would make him completely embarrassed and ashamed.

Luckily for Ed, the door bursts open and in comes his younger brother. "Hey Ed, you awake yet?" Al cheerfully asked as he charged in, but instantly halted from all movement. He thunderously shrieked! The poor boy was in complete shock to see his older brother, the one he has so much respect for, looking at what's under a girl's skirt and getting a nosebleed from it. To Al, Ed looked like a dirty, perverse man.

From hearing Al's scream, Winry and Second Lieutenant Ross hurried into the room. Once they came in, their jaws dropped to the ground. Winry immediately took out a giant chainsaw and was prepared to slice Ed into pieces with it.

"EDWARD…" Winry spoke with a creepy threatening voice. "YOU KNOW THAT YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LIFTING UP WOMEN'S SKIRTS, RIGHT…?"

"Yeah, but-" Ed answered and tried to defend his innocence. However, Winry cut him short when she began to yell in his face.

"YOU SLEAZY PERVERT…PREPARE TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!" She activated the saw and the blades began to swiftly spin. Ed let go of Hikaru's skirt and began to quiver in fear of Winry's massive chainsaw.

"Actually…It's my fault, again." Hikaru laughed and explained the situation, "I was only teasing Ed by lifting up my skirt. He was just trying to stop me from doing it."

Winry's chainsaw instantly stopped spinning and dropped to the floor. She turned towards Hikaru with a shocked look on her face. Ross went over and bonked Hikaru on the head. She then scolded her, "Hikaru, you should know better."

"I don't. Please educate me." Hikaru said sarcastically

"Cut the sarcasm!" Ross then sighed. "I should never have made you wear the skirt."

"Then take it off me."

"No! You think you can weasel out of wearing one? I don't think so! We made a deal back at the shop, and you're going to wear a skirt whether you like it or not!"

"Dammit."

"What happened?" Ed curiously asked out of the blue.

"It was back at the new clothing shop nearby." Hikaru started to explain the story, as the images of her memory there began to come back to her.

------------------------

"Ed should be fine if we leave him in his room for a while, instead of bothering him." Winry spoke as she and Hikaru were walking down the sidewalk from the clinic. It's been a while since both of them had a relaxing moment to enjoy themselves.

But something was beginning to irritate the blonde mechanic. It was something that Hikaru seems to feel at ease about. Winry suddenly burst out to the Alchemist, "How could you wear clothes like that?!"

"Why? What's wrong with them?" Hikaru looked down at her clothes and noticed how tattered they are from her previous battle at Laboratory 5. Sure, her shorts were torn up pretty badly, but her black tank top only had a few tears. In her opinion, looking nice doesn't really matter; clothes that still suitable for combat are what matters.

"It's not normal for people to be walking around with tattered clothes like that." Winry explained, and pointed around them, "Besides, you got several people staring at you in a weird looking way. It's definitely not a good sign."

They needed to find a clothing store and fast. Winry grabbed Hikaru's wrist and dragged her down the streets at lightning speed. Suddenly she crashed into someone and both Winry and that someone fell to the ground. Hikaru, however, was the only one that was safe. While the blonde was recuperating from her crash, Hikaru quickly noticed whom Winry had bumped into: Second Lieutenant Maria Ross!

"Second Lieutenant!" Hikaru exclaimed. "What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be body guarding Ed?"

"I know I should be," Ross replied, "but with me being a woman I can't hold myself back from something."

"And what's that 'something'?" Both Winry and Hikaru asked.

"THAT NEW CLOTHING SHOP FOR ALL WOMEN! SEREIN BEAUTÉ!" Ross shouted and pointed to the enormous building they're standing right in front of. Her cheeks instantly bloomed with blush. "I've waited so long for this store to open. It has everything to anyone's liking."

Soon Winry shrieked abruptly. Hikaru was shocked from her deafening volume and quickly plugged her ears. The mechanic couldn't help but gaze so longingly at the outfit before her eyes. It's the same outfit design as shown in the many fantasy books she read as a child. Ever since she was a child, she had always wanted to wear the same clothes as the female protagonist and appear as a hero. Winry quickly ran inside towards the counter to ask if she can try it on.

"I HAVE TO BUY IT!" Winry exclaimed with much determination.

"Why do you need it so badly?" Hikaru wondered, clearly showing that she has no idea of a woman's world of fashion and glamour.

"It's the only one left in stock, and there's no other place that sells a design like this!"

"Aren't you going a little too overboard with this sort of thing?"

"Hell no, I'm not! Now let's go to the changing room and let the lieutenant enjoy herself." She then dragged Hikaru to the dressing and told her to help her put on the outfit.

_I don't see anything special about these clothes. _Hikaru thought. _I guess they look really nice though, considering that it's all black._ It was a black, sleeveless sailor-fuku with red streaks on the collar and at the lower tips of the shirt. The necktie had a holy cross imprinted on the end. The miniskirt was pleated and made with material durable for combat. Probably it was made to match the protagonist of a character in some fantasy novel series. Since it was fantasy based, the heroine must've needed some heavy-duty clothes that are ready for combat against all sorts of creatures.

"Hey Winry, how's the outfit working for you?" Ross asked as she suddenly came into their dressing room with piles of clothes hanging on her arms. Winry stood up and surprising she wasn't satisfied with herself.

"It doesn't fit me," she complained. "The chest is too big and the waist is too tight. And the overall size is too small." She began sulking as she took off the clothes. "Looks like I'm not the heroine type."

"You can let me try it on." Hikaru interrupted. "You were complaining about me needing some new clothes, right?"

And with that, Winry handed the sailor outfit to Hikaru and helped her put it on, especially the necktie, which seemed to cause a lot of trouble. When she was finally fully dressed and complete the Winry and Ross were stunned to see that Hikaru perfectly fits the outfit.

"How is it?" They both wondered.

"Unlike Winry, the chest is a perfect fit and the same goes for the waist." Hikaru answered, causing Winry to be a bit angered by what she said.

"Any problems?" Ross asked.

"Yeah," Hikaru replied and tried to stretch the miniskirt a bit longer. "I feel a lot of air between my legs. Is this normal?"

"Of course, if you're wearing a skirt or dress."

"Well, this is my first time wearing one…and now I feel a bit paranoid. I really, really need some shorts!" Hikaru began to frantically look around her and noticed small biker shorts on Ross' huge clothing pile. She instantly snatched them and out them on. They were tight, but still shorts. And finally she calmed down. However, still not liking skirts or dresses, Hikaru decided that she was satisfied with the shorts and removed the skirt.

"Hikaru! What're you doing?!" Both Winry and Ross shouted in bewilderment.

"I don't like skirts." Hikaru explained. "I have shorts now, so I'm fine without one."

"WHO CARES IF IT'S A SKIRT, HIKARU!!" Winry shouted from the top of her lungs.

"But I care…"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT MATTERS! Now let me finish…Hikaru, you have no idea how valuable the clothes you're wearing are, don't you?" The clueless Alchemist shook her head at Winry's question. "I thought so. Those clothes need to be altogether in one outfit. Without one article of clothing, it loses its entire value."

"And why am I supposed to care?"

"Because I do! I'm the one who wanted to buy those clothes, but they won't fit me. And apparently, they work perfectly for you!" Then an evil smile appeared on the mechanic's face. She turned around and whispered something to Lieutenant Ross, and soon her facial expression matched Winry's. "Since I want that outfit pretty badly I'll buy those clothes for you, Hikaru."

"Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?" Hikaru suspected.

"Didn't I tell you? I really like that outfit."

"Just tell me your real plan already. I'm not stupid."

"If you won't wear that skirt, I won't buy new clothes for you, forcing to walk around in your tattered clothes or, even better, your underwear!"

"Is that it?" Hikaru laughed it off. "I told you before, Winry, I'm not stupid. I could just buy these clothes myself, you know."

"I'm not finished yet, my friend." Winry evilly spoke. Hikaru wasn't expecting this and prepared herself for an even worse scenario. "We were expecting you to be a smart ass sooner or later, so we prepared a second plan. Hikaru…If you don't wear that skirt…" Winry held out her hand, giving Ross the sign to give her several small photos. "…We'll be forced to show these around to everyone, even Edward." She showed the photos to Hikaru, and the Alchemist acted as if a sword came and stabbed her in the head.

"THESE ARE COMPLETELY FILTHY!!!!!!!!" Hikaru cried out. They were photos of her in the changing room, and they all consisted of her nude or in her undergarments! Since she can no longer feel the emotion of rage and anger, Hikaru's face turned red with embarrassment instead. "When did you guys take these?!"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ross said as she held out a camera. "I took it while you were changing. Winry knew that there would be one moment where you wouldn't cooperate, so she told me to do this."

"How could you go along with her evil scheme?!"

"Every woman must eventually learn to wear a skirt, whether they like it or not. And your time to learn is now! Besides, Hikaru, you look better in a skirt."

"Yeah," Winry sighed in agreement. "The thing that makes me even more jealous is that you can wear those clothes."

"They're just clothes, though." Hikaru pointed out.

"It's not that. Those clothes prove our measurements as women."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just look at yourself. They fit perfectly on you. The waist was too tight on me, meaning you're thinner than I am. And the thing I hate the most though is that the chest of the shirt felt too large for me, making you much chestier than I am."

"She does have a point." Ross agreed, as she looked carefully at Hikaru's chest, making the young Alchemist jump back in surprise. "You're actually very large for your size. Small women, like you, normally aren't as developed as taller women. Hikaru, how old are you anyway?"

"I may have amnesia," Hikaru began, "but enough of my memory has to returned for me to remember how old I am. I think I'm almost 16, but I know for sure that I'm only 15 right now."

"Then we're about the same age. That's not fair!" Winry complained and then went straight back to her evil, blackmail plan. "And so, Hikaru, promise us to always wear that skirt, or else you know what happens." She waved the photos in the Alchemist's face.

"Fine…I promise..."

------------------------

"I can't imagine you being subjected to blackmail." Ed laughed.

"That's not funny, Ed!" Hikaru exclaimed. "Those two are evil, especially Winry. What if they forced you to do something you really hate by using blackmail or any sort of torture?"

"You're right…only Winry would come up with such an evil, wicked plan!" He then thought to himself, _If she were to do something like that to me…dear god!_ Ed quickly jumped out of his bed and stood close to Hikaru, looking directly into her crimson eyes. He grabbed both of her hands and clenched them tightly in his, as he loudly declared, "I understand your pain, Hikaru! To go through the hardship of her diabolical torture is very harsh on a person. Now I, too, have someone who understands my pain…"

"Thank you so much for understanding my feelings, Edward," Hikaru happily replied, as she was still a bit surprised that Ed came out of nowhere and stated that.

Winry thought that this actually wasn't a good time to pummel the two young Alchemists for calling her evil. She didn't feel like it was right to ruin their moment of fun, so she let the two enjoy it while it lasts.

"Ed's acting awfully 'chummy' with her lately." Ross noticed.

"Perhaps it's 'cause she reminds him of someone who was so dear to him in his childhood." Winry explained and began to think deeply about the past, back when they all still lived happily in Resembool. "That's probably what gave me a creepy familiar feeling around Hikaru. She looks so much like our childhood friend Naoki. Her real name is Natsuki, but everyone calls her Naoki. She first came to the Elric house one rainy day…"

------------------------

"Hey, Winry!" little Edward shouted as he heard a knock on the door. "Can you open the door? Al and I are busy reading right now."

"All right. All right. I'll open the door." Winry replied as she opened it. She instantly let out a thunderous shriek that rivaled against the sound of thunder in the dark, rainy sky.

"What's the matter, Winry?" Ed's mother, Trisha Elric, questioned, as she hurried over to Winry. The two Elric brothers also rushed over to see what happened and both of them were stunned at their sight.

There, stood at their doorway, was a small black-haired girl about the same age as Ed and Winry. She was drenched from the pouring rain, as well as her own blood. The poor girl was bleeding all over. She held her broken arm, as she looked into their eyes with fear and sorrow.

"P-Please help me…" the crying girl pleaded. "There are people after me! Can you please help me?"

Being the kind mother she is, Trisha agreed to help her. She told Ed to carry the girl over to an extra room where she can treat her wounds. She then had Al and Winry clean up the blood trails to hide any evidence of the girl being at their home.

As the Trisha tried to stop the bleeding, the girl began to speak once again after collapsing from exhaustion when Ed was taking her to the room. "If those people come to the door and ask for my name, can you please not tell them that I'm here?" she begged.

"Of course, dear." Trisha benevolently answered. "How could I ever turn in a little girl to people that are going to kill her."

"Thank you so much, miss…When I get better, I'll repay you're kindness."

"It's really not that necessary, but probably I do need some help. Taking care of two boys by myself is such hard work. Besides, you're about the same age as them. I'm sure you guys will get along just fine." She gave the little girl a really heartwarming smile, and took care of her as if she were her own daughter. "Anyway, what is your name, dear?"

"My name's Natsuki. I can't say my last name or else everyone could easily figure out who I am, since my big brother's in the military and rising up the ranks at a fast pace. This angered many of the lower ranked officers he was with, so he's not liked much around work. But the bad people who after me have nothing to do with the military, but some other problem my father caused. So just call me Naoki. It's best if my name doesn't go around here and over to them. I don't want to endanger you and your family."

"You're such a sweet girl. It's almost like you're any mother's perfect dream daughter. No, it's more like you're the perfect child, or even human." As she spoke, Ed suddenly came up to the room and notified his mother that there was knock at the door. Trisha instructed her son to stay and take care of Natsuki, while she went to see was at their doorway. From there she quickly left the room. Ed closed the room door, but didn't notice that Al and Winry were hiding behind it and are now listening in on any future discussions. Without any idea of the secret eavesdroppers, he sat down in his mother's seat, seeing if there is anything her can help with.

"Do you need me to do anything?" Ed kindly asked, as he tried to hide his shy-self from his visitor.

"Probably just a cold towel on my forehead, and that should be good." Natsuki replied and gave him a sweet smile. The young couldn't help, but blush when he saw her face. He used the small towel in the water bucket already set there and carefully placed it on her forehead. Natsuki relaxed herself as the cold towel cooled down her rising body temperature.

"So your name is Natsuki, right?" he said, trying to lift the silence between them. His heart was strangely beating quicker than usual and his face still remained as red as ever.

"Yup. It's a strange name, isn't it?" She casually spoke back and quietly laughed to herself from Ed's shy emotions.

"It's not strange…just rather unique. I never heard a name like that before here in Resembool, even in Amestris."

"My brother has an Amestrian kind of name, only 'cause my father gave him that name. But he wasn't there when my sisters and I were born, so my mother named us. She was always interested in the eastern country of Xing, and so she gave us Xingnese names."

"Whoa! You have a highly amazing vocabulary!" Ed acknowledged, as he astounded by her intelligence.

"That's 'cause I read a lot back home. My brother has tons Alchemy books, since he's a State Alchemist."

"So you practice Alchemy?!" Ed shouted excitingly

"Of course." She smiled. "I can tell you're crazy for Alchemy."

"Definitely!" he returned her smile with his own toothy grin. "Who knew I'd end up meeting an Alchemist-in-training, like me?" The two began to exchange the knowledge of Alchemy with each other, and soon they quickly became good friends. Al and Winry couldn't help but enjoy themselves as they listened in on Ed and Natsuki's conversation.

Over at the front door, Trisha greeted the mysterious people who came up. They were two strange looking men dressed in dark suits. Their well-groomed hair was now a mess thanks to the pouring rain, and it seems they came a long way to deal with a troublesome errand. However, they did their best to be polite to Trisha.

"Excuse me, miss," The first man said as he bowed, "sorry to bother you at a time like this, but have you seen a little girl with black hair around here? Her name is Natsuki."

She instantly knew that these were the people that were after Natsuki. The man that greeted here had a handgun slipped carelessly inside his jacket pocket. Other than the noticeable weapon, he and his companion had blood drenched on their boots, as well as the bottom of their pants. Also, there was some kind of evil glint in their eyes that caused chills to go down the mother's spine. These men may look and sound well mannered, but, in truth, they're cold-hearted and bitter. By the way the man greeted her with his peculiar grin, she could tell that this man loved to torture his victims in the cruelest ways possible. The other man, however, was more of the serious type. He always stood straight and has not spoken a single word yet. The strangest thing about him is that he wore sunglasses in the weather lacking sunlight. Since she's a very protective mother, Trisha's instincts are hardly ever inaccurate.

"Who are you?" She questioned them.

"Please excuse my companion," the second man wearing the sunglasses soon spoke, "He simply has forgotten that it's customary to introduce oneself first. We are of a 'trash-disposing' company over in Central City."

"Why would a company like that come all the way out here to Resembool?"

"You see here, miss," the first man explained, "there was one problem child that would always get in the way of our 'business', and our boss would like it very much if we brought the kid back to him to talk things thoroughly."

"Who is this child?" Trisha asked, trying to sound like she's interested in the subject.

"Her name is Natsuki. She's from the same place as us. She lives with her older brother and two younger sisters. Her older brother works in the military, so he can afford to take care of his family. They don't have any parents after all. Their mother was a good woman, but soon passed away after giving birth to Natsuki and her sisters. Their father, on the other hand caused a lot of problems for us, and he too soon left to escape from the hardship that he, alone, faced. But other than her simple family background, Natsuki is actually pretty famous around the really large city of Central. The kid's a genius and at a really young age, too. Everyone called her Macchina the Prodigy, 'cause she worked with everything so perfectly like a highly advanced machine would. You know, 'cause Macchina means Machine in its Latin roots, right? Anyway…she was perfect in the way that she started reading at an early age, can create beautiful art flawlessly, and can repair anything for people using her simple knowledge of mechanics. These would be traits you'd expect an adult to have, but with a kid having skills like that…man, that is definitely what you would call unique. She may be popular with everyone, but not every real human is perfect. We call her a problem child and we need to find her for our boss. So have you seen her, miss?"

Trisha took a moment to put all that information into her brain before she finally gave him an answer. "I'm sorry to say, but I haven't, sir. Resembool is a small town out in the country, so we don't usually know much about what is happening in the larger cities."

"Thank you for your time, miss." The man in the shades said as he and his partner bowed. "I apologize for the inconvenience." He then walked away from the doorway with the other man following. Both of them were not aware of Trisha's lie, and soon left from her sight.

She quickly closed the front door and ran back to the room where she kept Natsuki. The mother suddenly stopped in her tracks when she noticed that Ed, Al, and Winry were all listening in on her conversation with the two strange men.

"So you three heard everything, huh?" she asked as she placed her hands on her hips. The three kids gave her an honest nod and hoped that they wouldn't get punished for doing so. Fortunately for them, she wasn't going to and gave them all a smile instead. "Well, at least it saves me time explaining if you guys asks later. So if you're expecting a punishment, feel lucky, since I'm not planning to give you one this time." The three were instantly relieved and they all walked back in the room where they saw Natsuki giving out a small laugh.

"Hey, what so funny?" Ed immediately asks.

"I guess now you know mostly everything about me." She said with a smile.

"Well actually, at the beginning we were assuming that you might be the child genius Natsuki." Trisha stated.

"I thought Resembool didn't know anything about what happens in the bigger cities."

"That's the power of a white lie." The mother laughed, "We do receive news and highlights, but no one in Resembool are ever willing to tell the truth. That way we're never involved in any big troubles."

"Now that is clever." Natsuki commented.

"So who are those men that were after you?" Winry asked curiously.

A disgusted look came upon the young prodigy's face, as she explained their identity, "Those two are part of a hidden mafia in Central. By the sounds of their voices, I can tell the one who spoke the most is named Amaro, while his quiet partner is named Morte. They're in charge of keeping tabs on my family, since my father still owed the mafia money. That's probably how they know the basics of my personal life. The life that people on the outside see as perfect, but in reality it's far from it." She then became lost in her thoughts as she continued. "People only see me for my abilities. So what if I can read, write, perform alchemy, draw pictures, and build stuff. I only do so to make my brother happy, since he works so hard to take care of our family. They only think I'm great at it. For real, I'm only novice at Alchemy and whatever I build, usually is a compilation of anything I can find. The only thing I can count at being great at is drawing. You see this whole Macchina prodigy thing doesn't really exist. Macchina only exists in our dreams, in our desires to obtain perfection. I guess that's how they blew my life story and talents a little out of proportion. They only dream of a perfect child, but there's absolutely no such thing as a perfect person."

The four were amazed to hear the truth of Natsuki's story. So it was only a myth. The perfect child prodigy that everyone knows of doesn't truly exist. Like what she said, there's no such thing as a perfect person.

"Is there something wrong?" Natsuki wondered because none of them spoke since she finished her story. "I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me and think my life is just a sob story. Excluding the whole mafia part, it's an average household. And I'm happy with the family I have."

"No it's not that." Trisha spoke. "It's just that it's a big shocker for someone your age to be going through a lot like that. And you speak like you have much knowledge."

"That's what happens when you tons of books when you're bored. I'm surprised that I don't need glasses yet."

"You know, another surprising thing is that I, too, imagined you to be perfect only from first meeting you. Maybe that's only because you were so sweet and polite."

"I guess so."

"Hey, if you need help with mechanics, I'm here for ya!" Winry exclaimed with a huge smile on her face. She held out her hand to Natsuki, and Natsuki can tell by that statement that Winry wants to be her friend. She was a bit astounded by this, but a smile quickly grew on her face, as she slowly placed her hand on Winry's.

Suddenly two more hands slapped themselves on Natsuki's. Both girls were surprised to see both Elric brothers joining in. Al gave his usual happy smile, while Ed gave her his toothy grin. "And for Alchemy, you can practice with us!" Both of the brothers simultaneously exclaimed. Trisha was so delighted to see the four getting along perfectly. She knew that she was no longer needed in the room, so she left with a content smile on her face.

"You guys need me to do anything in return for this?" Natsuki asked, still holding her hand in place.

"I can't think of anything really." Al answered, as he too left his hand on top of his brother's.

"You did say you're really good at drawing, right Natsuki?" Winry questioned.

"Yeah," Natsuki answered, "By the way call me Naoki. It's much better if my real name doesn't spread around town."

"All right then, Naoki." Ed replied, while clutching her hand tightly, causing her to blush a little bit. "Maybe you can help us draw, better. Al and I can't really get some Alchemy circles straight."

Natsuki chuckled as Winry made another suggestion, "You can probably help me with drawing, too. Drawing out blueprints for my grandma can be a pain at times, especially since I can't draw."

"Then this is just like Equivalent Exchange, isn't it?" Natsuki laughed.

"That's how life works." Al said, "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange."

And with that, the four lowered their hands down, and then threw them high in the hair, letting out a big cheer. So it was decided that Natsuki would stay in Resembool until it was safe for her to return to her home in Central. With Natsuki, Ed, Al, and Winry all knew that a new adventure would start soon, and they were prepared for whatever's ahead of them. The four kids gave each other laughing smiles, knowing that this is the beginning of a brand new friendship that will last for a lifetime.


End file.
